The Second Runner

 Just finished ZoE II. Jesus christ, still one of my favorite videogames ever. While not Top 10, definitly Top 15. Regardless, tomorrow I'm run through ZoE 1 and Zoe 2 again, skipping cutscenes, and getting all the unlockables, then write the review.
 Goddamn, ZoE II is so epic. The battleships scene is one of the most epic set pieces in GAMING. Few moments ever come close to the epicness and badassery that that scene alone entails. And right after that? A HUGE WAR ON THE DESSERT. The Ships scene is hard as balls, by the way, even on normal, so after those two scenes? Jehuty power ups, and then you get to mow down through enemies with 0-Shift. Zero Shift is the tool that makes you feel like a badass. At the press of a button, you instantly move behind your targeted enemy and you can crush'em down before they even know what hit them. It's way more badass than it sounds.
 And how do you top that off? How about fighting on a broken Jehuty against the big bad while you are both being transported at extremely high speed towards a satellite? Damn right. It's a game that after it gets going, it doesn't ever let up. While I'm still bummed about Konami cancelling ZoE III, in a way I'm glad... there is no possible way of ZoE III ever topping ZoE II. It's that good. I seriously can't say enough good things about ZoE II.
 So yeah, ZoE II truly stands the test of time, actually, this videogame generation was so lackluster and filled with "Give me your money for stuff that should have been there from the start" that it's not surprising at all. So... yeah, Archile out.


PS: I finally bought Kingdoms of Amalur. Got tired of waiting for the "Complete Edition", and the demos was extremely fun. Not ZoE II kind of extreme, but I digress.

Finished ZoE 1

 It was quite good, I can't believe people say that it was only worth it for the MGS 2 demo. I mean, it pales in comparison to the epic ZoE II, but as an early PS2 game, it's quite good. For some reason, I'm really fond of early PS2 games, like Onimusha or Okage, and this fits the bill nicely.
 Still, this game is like a huge Gundam love letter, and due to that, people like to hate on Leo Stenbuck, the whiny lead. Because if you were a kid and found yourself thrust into war you wouldn't whine, huh? I got carried away, anyways, I've been meaning to finish this game ever since I fell in love with ZoE 2. Problem was, my country is rampant with Piracy, so back then the only way I could play ZoE 1 was through a copy... and ZoE's copy protection doesn't allow you to save, so I was SOL. Was it worth the 6 or so years wait? Nope, heh, but it was still decent.

Archview #50: Street Fighter IV

 What a lame way to have my 50th review.... and it's gonna be a short one too. I didn't even care about the cover picture, sue me.

  Street Fighter IV is an old game, and it's already on it's fourth iteration(SF IV(Arcade), SF IV(Consoles), SSFIV, SSFIVAE) with a fifth one on the horizon, so I'm just gonna focus on what makes this game different from Super, 'K?. For starters, the game plays and looks just like Super, with the difference that you only have 25 characters and only have one Ultra Combo. Unlike Super, you have to earn your characters, colors and taunts, and it can be tedious at times, specially if you are a Tournament Organizer. So yeah, on one hand, it's cool, having to unlock characters and stuff, it extends the life of the game, in Single Player, and it's fun getting rewarded. On the other hand, it's a nightmare for people that are to organize tournaments and have to unlock everything on every console.
 All 25 characters have different endings and openings, animated at that, but they aren't really worth it since they are really short, and you don't miss anything important if you just go straight to Super. There's also Challenge Mode, that has three different modes: Survival, Trials and Time Attack, and each one comes in Normal and Hard variety. Trials are just like the Trials from Super, but in my opinion, they ease you better on the use of the specific character. Time Attack is actually kinda fun, as you start with a set amount of time, and you can only increase it by beating your oponent, and each stage of Time Attack has different conditions, this holds true for Survival, however instead of managing time, you have to manage your life bar.
 Lastly, and the best exclusive feature, is the Gallery Mode. Why they did away with it is beyond me, but here you can watch any ending or prologue, plus the intro and various art pieces and promotional videos, which you must unlock, of course. Are the exclusive features worth getting vanilla SF IV if you own Super? Nope, not at all. Regardless, the basic game is still fantastic, hence I can't go below 7, yet with Super avaiable, it kinda makes this game obsolete.
 7 out of 10

I don't get Golden Sun fans.

 They are weird.

 Most people that were into the GBA should be familiar with the Golden Sun saga, two JRPGs developed by Camelot, and published by Nintendo, that made the GBA their home. While styled after other turn-based RPGs, they had their own unique mechanics that relied on Djinns.

 Each playable character had a certain affinity to an element: Venus(Earth), Mercury(Water), Jupiter(Wind) and Mars(Fire). Spread throughout the land were many Djinns, some where easy to spot, some had you dealing with puzzles and some were simply random encounters. Each Djinn had his own unique use in battle, from defensive boosts, to special attacks, plus, they passively raised your character stats. Djinns had to be equipped to your characters. Naturally, equipping a Venus adept with Venus Djinn made him stronger... however, depending on which Djinn you gave your characters, you would end up with different classes that affected both spells and stats. The best classes had your characters with Djinns from different elements than their innate, and it meant that another character wouldn't get to use his better classes, so you had to consider if having a powerful character made up for at least one of the others getting the short end of the stick.

 The game also had lots of enviroment puzzles that had to be solved using Psynergy. Psynergy were basically the name that spells went by, and which Psynergy your character could use depended on which Djinn he had, and a few equippable Psynergies were also avaiable. There were loads of Puzzles in the games, and surprisingly, never got boring, even after pushing your 400th pillar.

 Then there is combat. The game used a turn-based system, and as explained before, stats and Psynergies depended on your classes and equipped Djinn. It doesn't end there though, some weapons had "Unleashes". Unleashes were powerful special attacks that would almost-randomly be released. Consider them powerful crititcal attacks. Certain equipment items could better the odds of the Unleash going off. Besides being very powerful, they also looked really cool. Then there were the Summons. By using Djinns, characters lost the stat bonuses the Djinn was giving him(and would change to a lower tier class), and that Djinn would go to a "pool". Djinn in this pool could be then used to cast Summons, which also looked great(Judgement was epic) and dealt loads of damage.

 The games were also very oldschool. Isaac was a mute hero, in the first game, but talked in the second one... However, while Alex spoke a few lines in the first game, he became the main character from the second one and thus lost the ability to speak. Oh! And Speaking could be done through menus, oldschool-style! And combat? Have your characters target only one enemy, and if he dies before everyone had their turns, they would waste it since "there's no target". Despite that, the games were very easy, perhaps the only real challenge was the optional boss Dullahan at the end of the second game.

 Character design was fantastic, every character looked very different and unique, but all of them felt like they belonged in the same world. Graphically, both games used the same engine, and they still looked great. Summons looked as powerful as they were, and every Unleash was so cool that it felt rewarding. The world in which the game took place was a very cool place. There were lots of locations and races, and the setting itself, the adepts, djinns and lighthouses were very original.

 Still, they had their flaws, and for RPGS, I felt they held them back greatly. Characters were very underdeveloped. Sure, they had their motivations, backgrounds and relationships, but they were pretty barebones. And each character, personality-wise, felt very samey. You could probably switch every dialogue speech around and it wouldn't change a thing. And while the story was very original, I felt it wasn't so strong and a bit... Disney. So while they were great games, they were not perfect....

 And here comes my beef with the fans, or the first part: They overrate the games so much. They are great games mind you, but these people will defend them from every and any critique. I was right alongside them clamoring for a sequel, and a playable Isaac in Smash Bros., but I could at least aknowledge their flaws, but not them. Not them. Fast forward to near the end of the DS's lifecycle, and after 7 years since Golden Sun: The Dark Age, came the third entry: Dark Dawn.

 I was there when the first trailer was released. I remember the disussions concerning if it was Isaac, his son or what have you. Eventually, it was revealed that it was Mathew, Isaac's son. By the way, grown-up Isaac is badass incarnate. Garet wasn't so lucky...

 Regardless, most characters from this third entry are related in some way to the other cast. Personally, I felt the game was fantastic. Everything that was great from the older games, remained here. And while it had an open-ended ending that left more than a couple threads hanging, it felt more like Golden Sun:TLA. It was a long 40 hour or more game, it also had 8 adepts, like the second game.
 And my issues with the past games? Now characters actually feel different. The latter 2 do feel a bit ignored, and don't get much time to shine, but the other 6 get plenty of personality. Most Summons from previous games return, and they look even better than before. Graphically, this game was a treat for the eyes. The gameplay itself is every bit as good as the other games were, both exploration/puzzles and the fights themselves.

 Basically, I found this game to be as good, if not better, than the previous two games.... But the fanbase? The fanbase hates this game. "They fixed nothing". To be fair, it was them that kept clamoring that the first two games where perfect and what have you, no wonder they didn't feel the need to change anything. And guess what, they didn't need to. "Dialogue is too long winded". Welcome to RPGs, stories tend to drag a bit, and there's quite a bit of reading to be done. Maybe they want characters that feel the same, like the previous games?. "It's too easy". Newsflash: Golden Sun and Golden Sun: TLA were very easy.

 And thus, I will forever be at odds with the Golden Sun fanbase. The GBA games are not as perfect as the make them out to be. The DS game is not as bad as they make it out to be. Fanbases can be so annoying, eh? At least they are not as bad as the Zelda Community.... "It got an 8, BIAS".
I'm done.
Seriously.
I'm done.

First Archimpressions: Street Fighter IV

 Back to the past, I guess?

 Tales of Xillia is taking forever to arrive, and my free time is running out, so... yeah, I just said "Let's get this game done with". And here I am. Super Street Fighter IV makes this one obsolete, right? Eh... Mostly, yes, mostly, but Street Fighter IV actually has a few unique things going for it. For example, gallery mode, you can watch any and every movie that you've unlocked, which is actually pretty cool, except that I bet no one will ever use it. Still, it's there and SSFIV lacks it. Then there's Survival and time Attack modes, I haven't played them yet, but those modes are gone in SSFIV, sadly.
 Otherwise, it's the same game, but with less characters. And most properties and values are different, so on a high-level enviroment, it's a whole different game(Sagat OP). And yeah, I'm done.

Month Overview: Game of August

 Games completed in August:
Dynasty Warriors 6                                            6
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition                                            5
Kengo: Master of Bushido                                            5
Evoland                                            7
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger                                            9
Way of the Samurai                                           7

 Check that out, I played the same amount of games I did last month! Cool, and I wasn't busy last month! This month I got a new computer. A real computer. So I played loads of games I couldn't before(Like Team Fortress 2), pretty cool. Games there months were merely alright, with the surprising standout Call of Juarez: GunSilinger, that game was badass. Evoland was a game I've wanted to play for so long, but my computer wouldn't handle it, so I was a but hyped for it, luckily, it delivered.
 On other news, I finally got vanilla Street Fighter IV! And a Bakugan game. I don't even like Bakugan, but it was new and very, very cheap(12 bucks), so... yeah. This week I should be getting Tales of Xillia, hope I have enough time to play it and make Archview #50, but since I finally(really long story, this year shall be remembered as my unluckiest year ever. Ever. Almost. 2nd at least.) started classes... it's gonna be tough.

 Game of the Month:

 This game was awesome. It was fantastic. I seriously can't say enough good things about it. It has it's little flaws, like the AI, keeping it from a perfect score, but it's 100% recommendable. So, yeah. That short.
 Runner-up:

 Initial impressions? Alright game. As you play it, you then realize that, hey, it's really good. It's really short too, but you can play through it in many, MANY different ways and thus influence how the story flows in equally many ways. Really interesting premise, and great delivery. The presentation is really dated though, but real gamers don't care about that.

Archview #49: Way of the Samurai

 Live by the sword, and leave a mark in history. Or not. It's up to you really.

 Way of the Samurai is a third person action-adventure game set in feudal Japan. You take the role of a nameless ronin as he arrives at Rokkotsu Pass, a place which is soon to see itself amidst warring clans and other unpleasantries. You will spend two days in this place, and your actions will determine how it all pans out, want to do nothing and watch it all unfold? You can. Want to fight and kill every NPC that crosses your path? You can. Unless they play a big role later, in which case you'll probably get to fight them later. Or not. You really have a lot of choices and options as how you want to go about each day, and that's really cool.
 As for the game itself, Rokkotsu Pass has about 6 different zones, and you are free to travel anywhere almost any time you want. Zones are big enough as to let you explore at your leisure, although they don't hold many secrets. You'll also get yourself involved in many conversations, and every now and then you get to answer. Answers carry weight here, so answer accordingly! Besides exploring, you'll probably see yourself involved in fights, in which case your Ronin has access to weak attacks, strong attacks, parries, kicking, blocking and jumping. You can also pick up objects like boxes or chairs and throw them, or food and restore your health. Combat is very intuitive, and feels nice. There's about 7 different movesets depending on your sword, which you can carry up to three of, and they are pretty varied.

 When fighting enemies, they will attack you one on one, following their code of honor, so you won't get mobbed upon. When fighting, you must also keep track of the tension on your sword. Having your attacks blocked, specially Strong attacks, makes the tension increase, fill the tension gauge and you lose a point of durability, if the durability drops to zero, your sword breaks. There are dozens of unique swords, each one carried by one of the unique NPCs, and if you want their sword you will have to kill them. There's also a Smithy that can enhance your sword, if you can pay his services(Or kill him if you don't have enough money to pay, he asks for the money after enhancing your sword after all).
 The game is very short, 2 hours or less short, but it's fun comes from it's replayability. There's about 6 different endings, and there are loads upon loads of factors that change the endings, change conversations or even conditions, even after finishing the game 6 times, there's stuff I haven't even seen! There's many unlockables too, from different heads and outfits, to a versus mode and characters for it, but it takes a lot of playthroughs to unlock, and I do mean a lot. It's also pretty unforgiving, while you can beg for your life if a fight isn't going your way, dying means losing all three of the swords you are carrying, and every time you continue your file, it gets deleted, so no save scumming!

 Way of the Samurai is a very old game, and a very plain looking one. It's not ugly, but it's boring. Characters are very simple, and so are the backgrounds themselves. The game also uses a very drab color scheme, so nothing really stands out. There's not a whole lot of music, but it's actually quite good. There's no voice acting, and considering the amount of unskipabble text there is added to how boringly characters flop their lips make for a very boring looking game. Disappoingly, while there are so many endings, all of them are images with text, and many of them share some images. Oh, and typos, there are more than a couple of them.
 As for complaints, the only real issue is the camera. Outdoors is fine, you use the right analog stick and move it around, a bit unwieldy but fine, but on some areas, mostly indoors, the camera switches angles(which you can't change) along the directional imputs, which make for some annoying moment where you try to move to another area, only for the angle and imputs to change and turn around. Very annoying.
 So yeah, it's an ugly, plain looking game. It's also very short, if you are not into replaying, don't even bother, it lasts 2 hours or less. But it's also very fun, combat feels just right, and collecting swords on each playthrough gets addictive.
 7 out of 10.