Archview #22: Tetris DS

 Better late than never.

 So I´m not really a Tetris fan. I could play Tetris if my life depended on it, but I´m not keen on it. But this version of Tetris is different from all the other Tetris games out there, so I just had to get it. So I got it.
 For starters, there are loads of modes: Standard, which can be played in Endless Marathon, Line Clear(Based on points) or VS the CPU. Then there´s "Catch", where you play as a dot, and tetrominoes fall, so you must catch them, and you can rotate the structure that you are creating as you try to fit more pieces. Every time you form a 4x4 block, it detonates, granting you points. This mode is timed, and every time you fail to add a Tetrominoe to your structure, you lose time, and so does every time your structure hits a falling Metroid(More on this later). In Mission mode, which can be played in Marathon or Time Trial, you are to play Tetris while you are tasked with completing certain tasks, be it making chains, clearing likes, or having a limited Tetrominoe variety.

 There´s Puzzle mode next, in which you must place the correct pieces in the right place in order to fulfill the requirements, there are 200 different puzzles. Touch Puzzle is more of a novelty, it´s kinda like puzzle mode, but using the Stylus to move around the pieces. This mode has 50 different puzzles or you can play Tower mode, in which you must make the balloons at the very top of the tower hit the ground. The last mode is Push, the least interesting one in my opinion, where you place Tetrominoes against the ones of your oponent, and you must drive him down... It´s a bit hard to explain, but it´s not too fun.
 The presentation is simply excellent. Each mode is themed around a different Nintendo character, Mario, Link, Samus, Donkey Kong and the guy from Balloon Balloon! Each mode has remixed music from the character´s franchise, and both screens are themed around him. If you grew up with Nintendo, or are a fan of, it´s quite charming.

 If you don´t like Tetris, this version won´t make you change your mind. But if you have at least a passing interest in it, this game is worth a try. There are loads of modes, loads of things to do, and the overall look is fantastic(Unless you hate Nintendo, in which case it proves that you lack a soul).

 8 out of 10.

"First" Archimpressions: Xenogears

 So far, it´s as good, if not better, than I remembered it.

 I just got captured by Aveh, and I´ve got to say... Holy smokes, this game was so awesome. I got a bit scared when Fei and Elly started arguing, since some of the dialogue was... ehh, but...it was not THAT bad. Not Xenosaga bad. Speaking of dialogue, holy smokes, the NPCs have a lot of flavor to their sentences, for example,  little kids have "cutish" speak patterns. It´s really interesting.

 And gameplay? Oh. My. God. It´s not as... free as, say Legend of Legaia, but it´s not worse, it simply is different. The animations are so fluid, and how they go from move to move... I miss sprite art of this quality. And the 3D graphics? The mechs look amazing, hard to believe it´s a PS1 game! It also has anime cutscenes, and they remind me of 80´s and early 90´s anime, they use light colors, characters have loooooong frames, there´s cryptic sounds.... and they are of the highest quality, so many frames.... it looks better than most anime now a days!(These scenes are kinda short, but all together, they amount to 20 min of anime).

 The best part? I´ve no real complaints or gripes. If I were to nitpick, I´d say that sometimes conversations get a bit too long. Even NPCs have a lot to say. But, it´s an RPG, I don´t mind.

 I LOVE THIS GAME.

Archview #21: Xenogears 3: Also sprach Zarathustra.

 It´s not as bad as Xenosaga 2.

 Xenosaga 3 is a very complex game, and it assumes you´ve played XS 1 and 2. Sure, there are multiple text-based memory refreshers, but they don´t really get the job done. You can´t just jump in 3 and expect to understand anything. Heck, even if you played 1 and 2, you won´t understand everything, that´s the kind of JRPG it is, the kind the flexes logic or overexplains it to the point of sensesless to be able to tell it´s story, just don´t overthink it and you´ll be fine. While I never liked most of the characters, everyone but one get closure in this game(The other one didn´t really have open issues), and they also get at least a couple of scenes to themselves, so that´s good.
 What´s no so good, is just how linear this game is, specially in the beginning. The further you get into the game, the more chances you´ll get to revisit dungeons(But only the dungeons, cities are gone forever). There´s also loads, among loads of cutscenes, but if you have been playing the past entries, it should come as no surprise, luckily, all of them can be skipped, assuming you grow tired of them or are in a rush. It should be said that most cutscenes look really good, however, the in-game dialogue is a bit jarring, as there is no mouth movement when they talk, but they do move the rest of their bodies. Another oddity, the full cast never, never appears on the in-game cutscenes... maybe it was too much for the engine? you can notice slowdown every now and then...

 They didn´t mess up the combat either! After the trainwreck that was XS 2, they simplified combat, a lot. Deathblows are gone(Boo! This was the thing that I loved the most about Xenogears), so are the Air and Grounded statuses(Thank god). Since shops are back, and so is equipement, character autoattacks are no longer associated to a type, so you can actually choose your party this time around. Characters have three offensive options: Attack, a simple attack, Ether, Magic spells that consume EP and Tech, mostly physical special attacks that consume EP. Why Ether and Tech don´t share a menu? Who knows?, Xenosaga was pretentious since episode 1.
 So, combat, this time around, enemies and allies have a red bar under their health bar, if you fill it up you "break" said enemy/character, which makes them lose two turns. There´s also a Boost meter(Both for you and the enemy), charged by attacking, that allows you to use the Special Attacks or get extra turns. Finish an enemy or a boss with a special attack and you get extra experience points, Skill points and Money. It´s a fun, simple and engaging system, although you´ll never use Boost for extra turns, you are better of storing it for Special Attacks. Combat is really challenging, and for the right reasons(Unlike XS 2). You are encouraged to use EP while fighting random encounters(Which are not really random, since you can see them while exploring), since there are Savepoints before most bosses, and they restore your HP and EP for free.

 E.S. combat is back, and it´s simpler, and flashier, than on-foot combat. E.Ses can be outfitted with different kind of weapons, and each one has a different fuel cost. On your turn you can chain as much attacks as your fuel allows it(Which gets restored every turn, so no worries). There´s no magic, but you can use some items. Instead of boost, you get the Anima gauge, which allows a special attack and makes attacks cost less fuel.
 The graphics in the game are really good, characters have a lot of detail, and the models look quite good. The dungeons are very inspired, exploring them is very entertaining. The cutscenes also look very good. Music was great, though after hearing it a lot(Areas are large) you´ll start to get tired of it. I did. The voice acting is a mixed bag, some are really good, some are bad, however, to add salt to the injury, the dialogue is really bad.

 Unlike past Xenoagas, there´s not a lot of extra content. There´s two optional bosses, and a couple of simple sidequests, but compared to the amount of post-game content from the other 2, it´s a bit disappointing. Guess they though Hakuox, a puzzly mini-game was enough to compensate, heck, they throw that game into your face at every chance they get(You actually have to play it once to further the story at one point!), but I didn´t find it engaging. Unlike XS 2, puzzles are few in number and rather easy, although I didn´t really mind it, I don´t play RPGs for the puzzles.
 All in all, it was not a bad game. It starts off quite weak, but as it advances, it gets better. Most of the 2nd disc is quite good, you just have to endure the first one. And I´m just talking about the story, the gameplay is engaging, even exploring feels good.
 7 out of 10.

Last Xenogasa 3 rant

 Ever since I put on the 2nd disc, the game got so, so much better. For starters, everything that was playable was fun, I had no gripes with the gameplay whatsover. What did annoy me to no end where the nonsensical situations, bad dialogue and the repetitive and dumb characters. Thing is, everything that happens on the 2nd disc is... dare I say, fun? Interesting? It was.
 Well, I did hate the fact that, as predicted, pulled a "Kevin was evil, but he meant well!" kind of thing. Because sacrificing yourself at the last minute completely exonerates you from using Shion all the time? From having the party involved in all these shady bussiness? Right.... Also, What The FUCK, Shion, What the fuck? "Nobody cares about me. Everyone left me but Kevin".... Dudette, two out of three games where about YOU. All the characters are at YOUR beck and call, they never, ever, EVER left you. They were looking out for you since Xenosaga 1, and you say that? I know they had to make Kevin not look THAT bad, but pulling stuff out of your ass doesn´t work.
 As far as combat goes, bosses got tougher, which means I got to fully exploit the Break status on them... it´s a fun battle system. HOWEVER, they completely messed up the last boss. JRPGs tend to have multiple-form last bosses... not Xenosaga, just one form and it´s incredibly easy, I guess they supposed you´d tackle the harder, optional bosses? One of the very few redeeming qualities of XS2 was the last boss, when after you take down it´s first form, you go to the spoils of battle screen and... he shouts "I WON´T LET IT END", cue in the next form. Nope, no such thing here. Another thing I disliked, it how tough random encounters got in the last dungeon. Yes, last dungeon, bla bla bla. Just make them do more damage. It´s boring having to pummel the enemies for so long, and you´ll be using the same strategies, since it´s the same kind of enemies, so there´s no point to dragging combat for so long. Make the bosses harder to make up for it, or something.
 Sidequests... there weren´t many, and I did as many as I found. Except the one for Ziggy´s last weapon. Do they really expect you to gather 99 of a drop from an enemy? And it´s one of those extra damage soaking last enemies. Not fun, so no deal. The other sidequests were incredibly short and simple, surprising, taking into account the 40+ sidequests from XS 2 and how much they boasted of them. Guess since they returned shops and equipment, there was no space on the disc for other sidequests? Heh.
 It surprised me just how linear the game was. Specially during the first disc, the times that you can go back to previous dungeons can be counted with one hand. Cities? Once you leave them, there´s no going back. Ever. As you go through the game you start getting more breathing room, but you´ll be getting dragged a lot. Still, something that surprised me even more was just how good it got. The first disc starts getting better the more you advance, by the 2nd disc it´s all good, not great, but good. It was a decent game, once again, all my complaints are story/dialogue/character based, gameplay was fun, even exploring was fun.

Xenosaga 3 makes no sense. And I like it.

 It seems they finally realized that making no sense, but having it look cool, works. Hmmm... where to start with? Ah! Yes, my favorite pieces of dialogue:
1) There´s this dying kid, whom you helped before get his balloon back. What are his epic last words? "I´m going.... to the sky.... like my balloon..." Are you trying to be deep? It turned out hilarious.
2) There´s another dying fella, and he gives you something. he says "Now that I think about it, I won´t be needing it". Oh, so you are dying and you have time to think about it? really?
One little scene that I loved, was when a piece of a mech falls, work of past chaos(You travel to the past), and Jr jumps "HEY! Watch out below!", and just as I was begining to start "Seriously? You shouting to a mech high above you?" present chaos says "Sorry.", it made me laugh!
 Speaking of the past, it´s odd how they made the entire first disc be focused on the past. It also made no sense. At the end of the first disc, chaos finally realizes, actually, chaos being chaos, he probably knew from the start, that this is not the past-past but the past from Shion´s subconciousness. It really made no sense. So they didn´t travel to the past? This is a recreation? But that means that there´s a Shion clone now? Even weirder, Shion and co CHANGE the past. They do stuff and affect the era, yet, it seems that this is how everything happened? I mean, Past Virgil would´ve DIED had the party not found him. Virgil met Febronia thanks to the party. Yet Present Virgil knew Febronia? In the end, past Virgil sacrifices himself... yet, had the party not arrived, he would´ve died anyways!
 So, then they reveal that this isn´t really the past, yet when the Gnosis appearance happens, it happens in reality, even though they are INSIDE Shion´s subconciousness? So now there is a Shion and kid Shion? But kid Shion is not Shion? Eh... it makes no sense, but at least it was fun to play through. There were some really cool and entertaining scenes, like when Past Margulis interrogates Shion, and he freaks out when Shion shows just how much she knows. The whole Virgil/Febronia thing didn´t make much sense either, Virgil "Rejected" himself since he could´t feel hate.... so he chose to become a Testament? Eh... It made no sense, but seeing them embrace before passing away together was kinda engaging. Oh! And MOMO got a scene!... except that she was used to give Joachim a... "He is not a complete asshole" scene. YOU DID THAT WITH VIRGIL. THEN WITH KEVIN. IT ONLY WORKS ONCE. ONCE. YOU CAN´T KEEP MAKING "ASSHOLES WITH A SOFTER SIDE". STOP IT.
 I don´t have other story-related gripes. Yeah, Shion´s acting a bit more on impulse than she would, but seeing how this concerns her family and Kevin, it makes sense for her to act like this. It seems Kevin is not really a bad guy. If this guy gets a "He was good all along but he chose the wrong way" scene, I swear I will snap the 2nd disc in half. If you are gonna make a villain in a JRPG, go all the way. It´s already quite unique, him being Shion´s lover, ´till he died, and now he is back as a bad guy. Don´t ruin it. PLEASE, IT´S THE ONE THING YOU´VE GOT GOING FOR YOU, XENOSAGA, DON´T RUIN IT.
 And the Xenogears references keep on coming, I LOVE THEM. After you get back the Vessels of Anima, you fight a Mech boss.... and he looks like Fei´s Weltall 2! And when he opens up his wings? XENOGEARS. THAT´S THE XENOGEARS!. How could they top it? Past Jin´s mech looks just like Citan´s Gear. You spoil me Monolith, you spoil me. Scratch that, YOU OWE ME THIS.
 I hate to love the fact that a lot of bosses come outta nowhere. It´s fun "Oh snap, I wasn´t expecting a boss now!", specially since they are, usually, challenging. I love how the game now feels hard, but fair. You are no longer forced to fight as the characters you hate in order to have a fair chance to win fights. Although the game loves to force Jr. into the party every time the party gets back together. Monolith, I´m not gonna play with Jr. Ever.
 So, here I am. 18 hours in, just got back to the present(Except that it seems I was in the present all along?... who cares), and just began disc 2. I hope this game keeps this up. Keep not making any sense, keep adding references to Xenogears and stop focusing on Jr.

Xenosaga 3 is full of assholes.

 I´ve kept this blog cussing free, well, I censored the few outbursts I had. Not anymore, Xenosaga deserves no favors.
 For starters, every character is an asshole. Everyone. Young Kevin? Major Asshole. He is disgustingly annoying, they tried to give him a "cute" scene, but it didn´t work. Joachim Mizrahi? Another asshole, and you get bossed around by him. At least it´s better than getting bossed around by Jr. Young Virgil? Well, to be fair, Virgil was an asshole since episode 1, but he was the original Asshole of Xenosaga, so I allow it, besides, they also gave him a scene in which he shows a softer side, and y´know what? His scene actually worked, they pulled it off with him, not so with Kevin. Stop making assholes, only to try to make them have a soft side, it makes your cast samey.
 And Shion? I don´t know what to think of her. In Xenosaga 1, she was mousy, nerdy but a go getter. Her outward appearance was really good, for a JRPG, her clothes, while all the vector employees wore them, didn´t reveal much, and she wore glasses. GLASSES. By XS 2 they said "fuck it", removed the glasses, and gave her more revealing clothes. Xenosaga 3? No glasses, more skin. She actually has a Zettai-Ryuki now. Anyways, they did something else in part 3.... they made her a douche. She still has hissy fits, she had´em since Saga 2, but now she´s also an asshole about it. I seriously can´t stand her now.
 Jr? Jr is my most despised character EVER. EVER. Xenosaga 2 was based around him, getting through that game was quite the struggle. And now? He hasn´t changed. At least the focus is back to Shion(Not that she is that much better as a protagonist). Still, Jr is involved in almost EVERY conversation and/or cutscene. And the first time you see him? He is bossing around the party. WHO MADE YOU THE BOSS? I MADE chaos(It´s spelled like that all the time) LEAD THE PARTY EVER SINCE XS2, YOU ARE THE BOSS OF NOTHING, YOU CONCEITED BRAT. And what annoys me the most, is how he has the most lines, second to Shion. They managed to add him into every single conversation. I CAN´T STAND HIS VOICE.
 Anyways, so what went on last time I played? "We can´t repair KOS-MOS, her black box is damaged". Minutes later? They find plans and repair her.... BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BLACK BOX?. And her new design? It´s as fanservicey as they could get it. Y´know what the very first shot of the new design is? An upskirt shot. A friggin´ upskirt shot. And you want to take me KOS-MOS? Then treat her seriously. Don´t give her clothes that only serve as fetish fuel. Don´t exploit camera angles. When Shion and KOS-MOS stood back to back, ready to fight, it looked really cool. Do more like that and less fanservice.
 Speaking of Shion, just before the Testament attacked, guess what? Ziggy, Jin and Jr are fighting him, Shion appears, and Jr says "Stay back, Shion!". Seriously? If this was XS 1, I´d buy it, maybe Jr. doesn´t know about Shion´s skills.. I love chivalry, and not in a sexist way. But you know what? Shion has been involved in these battles since Xenosaga 1. Not only can she hold her own, but she has been fighting these kinds of threats before, and she needs no protection. At all. That was just stupid. "Stay back"? No, Jr, YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEAVE THE FRIGGEN´ GAME, YOU USELESS SACK OF SHIT. On the plus side, Ziggy got some scenes and lines!, sadly not with MOMO. Seems that Father-daughter relationship they developed in XS1 was forgotten. And MOMO? Is she gonna be shoved to the sidelines? When is she gonna get some scenes?
 Oh, and funny thing, after the "Let´s repair KOS-MOS" conversation, they said "Hey, you should try out the new game", and Shion said "Yeah, I need to relax, maybe I´ll head to the lounge". They would´t make me play that Piece of Shit minigame, right? They wouldn´t shoehorn it into the main story... right?. So I went into the lounge, nothing happened. "Maybe I need to go to the church and speak with NPCS?". I took this chance to take the long roads and grind a bit, since I haven´t had chances to backtrack. Nope, nothing. They actually expect you to at least turn on the Hakuox minigame. Really? I tried it before. It´s not fun. Making you play it is so, so concieted of them. Maybe they thought "THIS MINIGAME IS AWESOME, IF THEY TRY IT AT LEAST ONCE, THEY WILL SEE". No. It´s not fun. And better yet? The second you leave the minigame, a scene takes place and you are to fight a boss. Gee, I hadn´t saved before... And the boss? He was interestingly hard. And once he placed a Physical barrier? Oh boy. Boss fights in this game are fun, they are challenging. Wish I could´ve saved before though!
 So yeah, I´m enjoying all the gameplay aspects of the game, even those hour-long stretches with no fighting, just walking around. But I can´t stand the main leads. I can´t stand the NPCs. I can´t stand the dialogue. And the story is so bad... On the bright side, the story is not AS bad as part 2, since Jr. isn´t the lead, but man, do they find ways to have him talk... And the battles are actually fun and challenging. Xenosaga 2 random battles were hard because it forced you to play certain characters to face certain enemies. The "Grounded" and "air" mechanics were dumb, the whole battle system was dumb. Xenosaga 3´s system is fun. So even if the story is almost as bad, I enjoy the "playing" part of the game, and in the end, that´s what matters.
I hope Jr. dies in the end.

Xenosaga 3: Mixed feelings

 So I kept playing, just finished chapter... 4, if I´m not mistaken, and am about 8 hours in. So far, the game is VERY linear, I´ve only had a chance to go back to previous dungeons once. Funny how I mentioned that Shion hasn´t changed... she has, she is an a$$hole now. Miyuki, who often messes up, is victim to Shion´s verbal abuse, heck, even when Jin defended Miyuki "It´s not her fault", Shion didn´t even apologise.
 Funny thing I noticed? On most scenes, the whole cast is never on screen at the same time. It gets a bit jarring when only three characters are talking, since the whole party is supposed to be with them. Ziggy and MOMO, the most interesting pair, get shuffled to the side, they haven´t gotten many lines yet. Speaking of which, Jr is in almost every scene, and he always gets the most lines, holy S... I can´t deal with this. Jr is one of my two most hated characters ever, I don´t know if I will survive so much Jr.
 What annoys me the most, is that even the side characters are annoying. I just met Mai, first thought? "Oh, she looks like Mariah from Xenogears, cool". Seconds later? What an annoying character. I suppose they tried to be funny with the whole "Thinks they are with U-Tic but they are not", but both the Voice Actress and the Dialogue itself is bad. Really, really bad. It´s hard to root for the main characters: Shion is plain and boring, and now you can add douchy to the list. Jr is just plain annoying, specially his personality, his squeaky voice doesn´t help.
 One thing that still annoys me, is Juli Mizrahi. When she first found out that KOS-MOS was up for scrapping, she didn´t even care. Once she found out she needed KOS-MOS, now she cared, but what grinds me, is that then she tells Shion "KOS-MOS is unique, she has a heart bla bla bla". Seriously? You didn´t even care that she was gonna be disposed of, and now you care? Really? And what does Shion answer? "You think she has a heart?"... Seriously? You´ve been treating her like more than a robot, and you question the existance of her "heart"? REALLY?
 For what it´s worth, the gameplay is actually fun. Seems they heard my "Bosses are too easy" complaints from part 2(They predicted I´d think that), so now bosses are actually hard. And I mean REALLY hard. Not SMT hard, but hard. It´s nice. I tend to prefer ES combat, since it feels faster and looks cooler, but on-foot combat is not bad, just a tad generic. Exploring is fun, the fact that the enviroments look SO good makes it even more engaging, you always want to see what comes next. It´s a shame the story, dialogue and characters are so bad. At least the Xenogears references make me quite happy.