Archview #19: Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring

 I adore this game.

 Ehrgeiz, better known as that quirky fighter with Final Fantasy VII characters is a 1 on 1 3D fighting game. This is a game that, before I had a PS2, had always wanted to play. I loved Final Fantasy VII, PC version, and seeing the Magazine ads "He is back, and he is not alone" with a page-sized Cloud was oh so enticing. Yes, the FFVII characters were added since the game lacked any kind of brand recognition, and it needed something to make it stand out from the other, superior, and well-stablished fighting games.
 Ehrgeiz system is kinda unique, for instance, you have free movement around the arenas, some even feature higher places you can jump on to, and the camera does a great job at keeping both characters on the screen, as they run around the arena. Blocking is done by standing still, which blocks highs and mid attacks, or by crouching(Default position when "targeting" the enemy), which blocks lows, there are other defensive options, like interrupts which are done by pressing Special just before an special move hits you(These look really cool) or rolling.

 For offensive options you have Low, Mid, High and Special attacks. Special attacks consume a non-chargeable gauge that starts full every round, after it´s wasted, you get a different attack. One really neat feature, is how most characters have totally unique Special attacks, Godhand can place mines or shoot, Cloud pulls out his sword(And gets a new moveset!), Jo becomes a Werewolf, etc. There are two other buttons, Targeting, which targets your enemy, and the jump button. Attacks are very responsive, but moving around can be a bit cumbersome, it´s not too precise which will make you miss some attacks, unless you are targeting.  The game also has plenty of extras. There are 4 different minigames, although I didn´t find them too fun. One of them is just survival mode though, but there´s an Othello clone, a racing mini game and a Beach flag catching thing. they are passable at most, but they are there. There´s also a really cool extra: Forsaken Dungeon. It´s a mini-RPG of sorts, there´s some semblance of story, but it´s just there as window dressing. The game itself however is very engaging, it plays more like a rogue-like than anything, and you are to challenge a 21 floor dungeon as one of two characters. It may sound short, but it´s really challenging and incredibly fun. If you want to save, you are charged a lot, and money is quite hard to come by, and you´ll need it, for repairing your equipment to potions, which are a must and are expensive, unless you want to try your luck with monster drops. And like any good Rogue-likes, there are traps, you might find yourself trapped into a room with no healing items and broken weapons.... If you die once, you get to rescue your character with the 2nd character(Which you must level up individually, and there´s no storage, so no items, unless you care to buy from the expensive salesman). Die before you get to your partner? Game over. And there´s also the fact that stat growth is affected by what you eat... yes, this "mini-game" is surprisingly deep, engaging and fun.

 The graphics are very good, with exceptionally good animations, the movements are very fluid and look great. The music is nothing special, but it´s worth noting that there are remixed versions of FFVII´s main theme and victory theme, so I can´t complain. The character designs range from odd to strange. There´s a Taekwondo fighter whose leg dissapeared(Yup), so he outfitted his stump with a robotic leg that shoots rockets(I´m not making it up), a guy with a prosthetic arm, which conceals a gun, and he even removes the arm and bashes his enemies with it! While all the characters are really unique, in both design and moveset, most Final Fantasy characters are clones. Zack is a clone of Cloud, Yuffie is a clone of Sasuke, Vincent is a clone of Godhand and Tifa might be a clone of Prince Doza, but I´m not too sure.  I think that Ehrgeiz is not a good fighting game, but it is a great game, it´s very  fun and fast, and it has a bunch of extras, including an amazing mini-RPG.
 It´s a 9 out of 10.

Progress Report.

 It´s not a good fighting game, but it is a fun game. I´ve unlocked all characters, most costumes and cleared Arcade Mode with everyone, so I decided to tackle the Forsaken Dungeon... Holy Ess! It´s incredibly hard and fun, it feels like a Roguelike, with al those traps and the need to eat. And you have to eat right. It a balanced diet(Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, etc) and you won´t raise stats as you level up, you have to focus on something, since focusing on one stat, means that another one won´t get raised.... it´s quite challenging. And if you die you get a second chance... to rescue yourself, with your partner character, and with no way to store equipment, s/he will have to do a "naked run" to get the soul of the other character. Challenging, and fun, wish I could stream this! It´d make for a fun romp.

 This is the most fun I´ve ever had with Tetris. All the extra modes are great, and I´m trying to clear them all before marking it down as done. Some of the puzzles get devilishly hard, and puzzle games are not my style, so.... it´s gonna be a while.

 I did not forget about Megaman Starforce, I´m on part 3 now! I just hit a slump since Starforce 2 got so damn boring, it´s easily the worst in the series. It was such a drag that I decided not to do the post game and jump right into Starforce 3, and what a good choice it was. Megaman Starforce 3 is as great as I remembered it, but I´m still 5 hours or so into it. I really don´t know how I managed to 100% Megaman Starforce 2 on my first go through the game, going through the Skylines is such a drag, specially when sidequesting and forced to go back and forth, back and forth.

"First" Archimpressions: Ehrgeiz - God Bless the Ring

 Since I´m on gaming fire today, here´s one more

 Control is a bit odd. Characters are a bit odd too. The controls are a tiny bit odd too. But I like it! A lot. Ehrgeiz is fast, and... better than I remembered it to be! However, unlike the last time I owned this game, I will do the Forsaken Dungeon RPG minigame, and I will clear it. And I will review it. Yes.

Archview #18: Street Fighter EX 3

 What a shame...

 I´ve always been a fan of the awfully underrated Street Fighter EX series. Why? They tend to be faster than the regular SF games, and they have some badass characters like Kairi and Garuda, owned by Arika, reason as to why they haven´t appeared outside the EX series. Street Fighter EX 3 skipped arcades, a first for the series, and it was a PS2 launch title. As with most launch titles, this means the game was rushed, and it shows even in the boxart, which is just a picture of Ryu model´s face, it even doubles as the instruction booklet´s cover, a sign of things to come?
 For starters, it has less characters than EX 2 Alpha Plus. There are no new characters either... actually, there is a new character, Ace, but he is a "template" character, destined to be outfitted with moves from other characters, that means that he looks generic and his moveset is not unique to him. Gameplay-wise, they removed the best feature of EX2: Excel combos, and it was substitued with mechanics that seem more like an afterthought, like the "Surprise Attack"(Mid Punch plus Mid Kick) and some tag non-sense.

 For some reason they decided to make Tag the default mode of play, heck, 1 vs 1 can only be done by going to Team Battle and doing one-man teams, baffling to say the least. Besides Tag battle, there´s also "Dramatic" battle, where you can go 1 vs 3 at the same time, or 2 vs 2, amusing for a couple of times at least. The game does have a clear lack of modes, theres Original Mode, read "arcade mode", however after beating each oponent you can add him to your team, then Arena Battle, where Dramatic, Tag, Team and Multiplayer is located, finally there´s Character Edit, where you edit Ace´s moves and accomplish missions to earn points in order to buy more moves. My One gripe with the missions is that you are told what to do, not how to, so it can be a bit challenging until you have learned what a Surprise blow is and how other mechanics are named.
 The presentation is lackluster, graphics are blocky and simple. Some models just look awkward, like Guile or Sagat, and some of the animations lack oomph. All the stages look incredibly generic and boring, and the music didn´t win me over, I felt it didn´t fit the game, but to each his own. The endings are just a tiny text window, and none of them are satisfying. There´s also a bizarre "mini-game" during the credits, where you get infinite HP and infinite energy bars, and you get to pummel loads of generic thugs, it´s midly amusing, but gets boring after the tenth time!
 Despite being a letdown, the basics of the game are sound, it is a fun game, but it could´ve been so much more, SF EX 2 Alpha Plus ends up being a better alternative.
 5 out of 10

"First" Archimpressions: Street Fighter EX 3

 Eh.... At least now I can see it´s flaws.

 I like it, I really do. It´s fun and fast, just the way I like my games. However, as a sequel to EX 2, it is a letdown: Less characters, less modes, less mechanics... less everything. And as a launch title? Even worse, graphics are blocky and ugly, there´s a lack of everything, it´s pretty clear that it was rushed to meet a deadline.

First Archimpressions: Tetris DS

 It´s gooood.

 I´m not a fan of Tetris or puzzle games for that matter, but this version is quite good. The Nintendo inspired look is a big plus, for me, and it has loads of modes which are Nintendo inspired. I just tried all modes and they range from fun to amusing. I was not planning on tackling this one so soon, but I kinda tried standard mode, and cleared it, so now I kinda have to commit to it. Curse my 1337 Tetris skills!

Archview #17: Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia

 Could´ve been much worse.

 Ar Tonelico is your typical Japanese overly complicated RPG, with an unnecessary amount of Moe. The story is set in a world populated Reyvateils, songstress that can craft magic out of songs, and humans. As expected of any JRPG, there are a bunch of corporations, the Tenba, the Teru, the Church and the Knights of Elemia. Of course, being a JRPG that has a unique type of creature or female(Or both), in this case Reyvateils, there are bad guys that seek to exploit the Reyvateils, surprising(I´m being sarcastic, by the by), regardless, the story centers on Lyner, one of the Knights of Elemia, who fell from Platina, a place a top a giant tower above the blast line, a zone no space ship can cross, who fell to a Virus invasion. Now Lyner has to return to Platina, and on the way, find a way to destroy the viruses and save the world.

 What makes Ar Tonelico different from other JRPGs is it´s combat system, now stay with me, ´cause this is extensive: When battling, your party consists of 3 warriors and 1 Reyvateil. Warriors take turns with the enemies according to their speed, the Reyvateil however, you can press Triangle at any time to issue her orders. Reyvateils can only attack using magic, which they must charge up. Warriors can´t deal as much damage as Reyvateils, but they can take much more damage than them. When enemies target Reyvateils, you can have your warriors protect them, and you usually must, since they will probably die.

 It doesn´t end there. Below the combatants, there are two gauges. The first gauge increases as you use spells. It can go up to 3 "stocks". How do you charge those stocks? That´s when the second gauge comes into to play. It has two bars, a blue one that goes from left to right and a purple one that goes from right to left. Every time they meet, the stock goes up by one. The blue bar increases as the warriors deal damage, and decreases when they take it. The purple one increases as the Reyvateil charges songs. Charging these stocks allow the Warriors to use HP-consuming techniques, which I found to be quite useless, and the higher the stocks, the better the enemy drops. While I enjoyed the combat system, later in the game, enemies get loads of HP, and you have to charge your spells longer, so Random encounters will become a drag.

 Ar Tonelico has two other distinguishing features: Grathmelding and Diving. Diving has you go into a Reyvateils subconscious and partake in a visual-novel like mini adventure, which is how you unlock costumes for the girls. Some of the levels in their subconscious can be kinda entertaining. Then there´s grathmelding, which is, basically, Crafting. Find the recipie, the ingredients and then craft your items or equipment. The process is quite streamlined, so it´s quite easy to do it.

 One of the better features of the game is it´s customization. By finding, or crafting, crystals, you can add extra effects to the Reyvateils spells and equipment. Perhaps add a chance to paralyze? 100% chance to crit with a spell? You can do it.

 Graphically, it´s quite ugly. The sprites are simple, and the animation feels stiff, and lacks some frames. The music is a bit too cheery for my tastes, but it has some really good pieces, specially the reyvateils songs. Voice acting is fantastic, shame the dialogue is not too interesting. It´s filled with double entendres, so your milleage may vary.

 While I did enjoy grathmelding, I was not too keen on the forced grathmelding. There are a couple of times where you are forced to grathmeld something in order to move on with the story, which means you have to find the ingredients, it´s no fun and it may force you to backtrack in search for the ingredients. By far the biggest blunder of the game are the loading times. The game will stutter a bit during combat, specially when too much stuff is going on, it makes the already slow combat even slower. The loading issues are verywhere though. Going to the menu to pick a spell? The game has to load a lot of information of each spell, that you don´t really need, when all you want to do is go down the list to use a friggin´healing spell

 All in all, it´s a better than average JRPG, but it´s nothing special. I will admit that I enjoyed it though.

6 out of 10.