First Archimpressions: Tales of Graces F

 It's bloody fun.

 I'm studying, so I only tallied 10-20 minutes, but it hooked me already. I'm still getting used to the new CC-based combat, but I've a feeling it's gonna be a fun mechanic, however, where are the traditional Artes? I will get traditional Artes, right?!

 The graphics are pretty simple, it was a Wii game and it shows, but it's pretty. Voice acting is, so far, pretty alright, but I won't judge it too hard until the characters grow up. The opening song is fantastic, it's cheesy in the Lunar 1 opening kind of way, which means it fits spectacularily!
 Oh, and judging from Hubert's grown up design, he looks stiff and serious, can't wait to see how he hardens, since right now he is a lovable coward.
 Basically, I'm hooked and I have great expectations for this game.

First Archimpressions: Dynasty Warriors 2 & Dragon Ball Budokai 3

 Uh oh...

 I loved this game as a kid. I adored it. I really, really did. So I picked it up after playing DW 7, DW 6, Fist of the North Star Musou and DW: Gundam series... and it's no bueno. No bueno at all.
 This game has aged awfully. It's so stiff, so visually barren and lackluster... I mean, I can see how it was good when it was released, you picked it up alongside your brand new PS2, and lo and behold, dozens of enemies on-screen at the same time! And they look better than anything the PS1 or N64 could have pulled off!
 Sadly, this was but a fraction of what the PS2 would eventually be able to run... and with that knowledge, this game is just so... so...
 So bad. Mediocre at most. I am sad, I loved this game.

 And then there's Budokai 3. Very first impressions? "Ooooh shiny!". The game looks amazing, and the fights look the part too. Sadly, I came to it right after being done with Budokai 1, so the story mode is quite lame and disappointing, sadly. At least, it's not as bad as Dragon World from Budokai 2, now that was bad. But, it's a fighting game, and anime fighting game, but a fighting game non the less, and the fighting itself is very fun, so it's quite good, for now.

Archview #51: Zone of the Enders HD Collection

 One of the most epic games ever made, now in HD!

 Zone of the Enders HD Collection collects the two PS2 games that made up the series. While the basic gameplay on both games is pretty similar, the execution, and quality, is quite different.
 Firstly, Zone of the Enders 1 pits you as Leo Stenbuck, your typical Gundam-styled kid that finds himself inside a top of the line mech(Orbital Frame) called Jehuty during a raid by BAHRAM, and is soon thrust into battle. The story is pretty simple and feels like a Gundam homage, but a bit simpler, sadly, the dialogue is not up to snuff, which kinda cripples the already simple story. As for ZoE 2, you now play as Dingo Egrett,, but he pilots the Jehuty too, and takes place after a couple of years since the first entry. The story this time is a bit more invovled, with more twists, but basically, Dingo used to work for the big bad, but after being fatally wounded and then revived, he is coerced into fighting BAHRAM.
 As for the gameplay, in both games you play as Jehuty, and he plays mostly the same. Jehuty can freely move around the enviroments, flying around at will. Movement is very fluid and easy to grasp, you'll be dashing up, down, left and right in no time. As for attacking, Jehuty uses one button for melee and ranged, what determines what type of moves he uses depends on the distance towards the enemy. There are three kinds of attacks: Basic, Dash and Burst. Burst attacks are slower, either a giant energy ball or an heavy spin attack, they break guards, but are really slow than the other two. Jehuty can also grab and throw his enemies, and in ZoE 2 you can actually carry enemies around and use them as weapons or shields. In both games, Jehuty can use a variety of different subweapons, around 8(all of them return, plus a couple of new ones in the sequel). While in ZoE 2, at least on Normal and upper dificulties, sub-weapons are a must, they feel quite useless in ZoE 1. The main difference is that while ZoE 1 uses different ammo for each sub weapon, they share a Sub Weapon gauge in the Sequel. As a whole, it's a very fun system, and surprisingly, it feels even tighter and more polished on ZoE 2, surprising because ZoE 1 already nails it so well!.

 In ZoE 1, Leo has to traverse around the space colony, which acts as a kind of stage select, while completing certain objectives. Said objectives will usually have you backtracking to older areas. You usually need to retrieve passwords in order to open up certain packages, and the game lets you know which enemy carries the password, but killing the other enemies, which come in squads, will give you ammo and XP, so it's usually worth it to kill every enemy every time you enter a zone. To be fair, backtracking can become quite a drag, specially since you don't always know where the enemy that holds the password is, so you might have to go to many zones. Every now and then, Rescue missions pop up, in which you must beat every enemy while avoiding causing damage to the buildings, they are a nice break of pace, and actually kinda tough to ace. Regardless, ZoE 1 is one the easy side.
 ZoE 2 is much more linear, and much better. There is no backtracking, at all, and every stage is different from the next, so you don't mind being led from place to place, and there are no searches for passwords. Most stages usually consist on killing everything that moves, save a few exceptions. Still, the ways of doing so are always different. On a moment you are on the skies, taking down a fleet of enemy spaceships, and then you are on the ground blowing up reactors in order to open up a door. There's also a stage filled with pillars that try to crush you down. And the massive war on the dessert in which you must take care of the enemies while backing up your allies? How about the scene where you have to chase and destroy a armored train? This game NEVER lets up, having some of the most epic set pieces I have ever played, and it holds true to this day. And it never gets old, unlike it's prequel. Interestingly, on the default difficulty, this game is way harder than ZoE 1.

 

 Graphically, ZoE 1 is very simple. The cut-scenes are made in FMV, with some horribly dated animations, luckily, in-game it's very smooth. Stages do feel very simple and samey though. There's also not a whole lot of enemy types. Voice acting is really bad, the bad voice acting doesn't help. As for the music, it's not bad, it's just forgettable. Then there is ZoE 2 which looks amazing. It has loads of special effects like smoke, and smoke that trails after Jehuty walks through it!. The Orbital Frames look way more detailed, and the stages themselves have more detail and objects than ZoE 1. The cut-scenes that involve humans, and the cut ins, are now done in anime style, and they look really good. Voice acting ,while not great, is at least passable. And the music? It's really good and fits the game.
 Both games are about 5-6 hours long, however, ZoE 1 has a lot of backtracking and searching for stuff, while ZoE 2 has no padding at all, every single minute is a different, awesome, moment. There's also unlockable versus modes that work about the same on both games, and while it will never have a place at evo, it's a nice diversion. ZoE 2 also lets you unlock EX missions and New Game+, both that let you take all forms of Jehuty(Oh yeah, Jehuty gets upgraded!). There's few complains to be had about these games, perhaps the Frame Rate issues? Luckily I played the patched version, so while ZoE 1 did have a few issues on a couple of bosses, it was nothing game breaking, and ZoE 2 was almost flawless.
 ZoE 1 : 5
 ZoE 2: 10
 ZoE: HD Collection : 10 out of 10. ZoE 2 makes the package worth it, to this day, is one of the most epic games ever created, and I'm not using that word lightly. Not here.

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.