Archview #52: Dragon Ball Budokai HD Collection

 Writing this while waiting for the teacher to arrive...

 Dragon Ball Budokai HD Collection brings two games of the Budokai Trilogy of fighting games to the HD realm. Yeah, they are skipping Budokai 2, but honestly, it's not much of a loss. The story mode was a drag, and the fighting itself is not as polished as Budokai 3, the only thing you could possibly miss would be the what if fusions, which were a bit of a novelty anyways.
 First of all, I'm gonna talk about Dragon Ball Budokai 1, and... it certainly has seen better days. Surprisingly, the game's standout feature is the story mode, that goes from the Sayian Saga to the Cell Saga. The story is told by excellent cut-scenes that capture the most iconic moments from those sagas as you go from fight to fight. While the initial run takes you through Goku's perspective, you can later unlock missing scenes from in-between that flesh out the story, but if you are a Dragon Ball nut, you probably know it already.

 The gameplay hasn't aged very well. You have four buttons: Punch, Kick, Energy and Guard. While pressing Energy by itself allows you to shoot a small proyectile, stringing together certain combinations of punches, kicks and direction followed by Energy allows you to use the trademark moves like the Kamehameha, provided you have enough Ki to use them. There's also chargeable moves and meteor attacks, but they are pretty shallow. On the flip side, the gameplay is so simple that anyone can pick it up and start having fun in seconds.
 As you play through the Story Mode, you will unlock Capsules that you can use to customize your character. This range from your special attacks, like the Kamehameha to passive effects or special effects, like resurrection. While it seems fun on the outset, you need to get the capsules, and getting the ones you want can be a lenghty, grindy process. If you play Tournament Mode you will get money that you can spend on the shop, but what the shop sells is random , so you will have to enter and exit until you get what you want. Granted, once you get everything, tinkering with characters can be fun, but it's also a must, since the "Normal" movesets for the characters are pretty lame and lack moves, so in order to make the most of it, you will want capsules.

 Visually, it hasn't aged well. Animations look a bit stiff, and sometimes odd. The character models themselves are on the simpler side, featuring little in the way of texture, granted, they do have some kind of charm. The cutscenes, however, are still as fantastic as they were before, but sometimes a few of the shadows may glitch a bit, which didn't happen in the original version, hardly a deal breaker though!. The voice acting is still pretty good, only in english though, but what may surprise people the most... is that there is new music. There were some legal troubles surrounding the odd tunes, so they couldn't use them anymore. The new music isn't bad, but the music used during the Story Mode feel out of place during certain scenes, which is a shame, as they take away from the impressiveness that they used to have.
 All in all, the game is very dated, however, the story-mode is still fantastic and unmatched by any other story mode on a Dragon Ball game, so it's still worth playing if just for that mode alone. There's also an unlockable mode in which you play as Hercule as he tries to take down the Z warriors which is on the funny side. Sadly, most characters feel really samey, having the same punches and kicks, and while their proyectiles have different names and colors, they feel the same too. Heck, most special attacks are very similar. Still, the story mode redeems it(It's that good).

 Then there's Budokai 3. The gameplay builds upon the foundations laid by Budokai 1. You still have the same four buttons, meteor attacks and chargeable moves, but there are new additions. Now you can use special attacks by pressing Energy and a Direction, instead of having to be part of a combo. Now there is Teleportation, by pressing Guard right before getting hit, you will teleport behind an oponent and hit him instead, and by pressing Circle after certain moves, you will follow up and hit them as if they were a ping pong ball, as long as you have Ki to expend. There are also Beam Struggles, if both characters shoot a beam-type proyectile at the same time, they will collide, and you will have to mash buttons in order to have your beam overcome theirs. Pressing all the buttons at the same time initiates Hyper Mode, which gives you Super Armor and enables you to use your Ultimate Attack or a Dragon Rush. Dragon Rush is a 3-stage attack, in which you and your oponent must press three buttons. If the enemy presses the same button as you do, they will block and end the Dragon Rush. While a lot of people love that feature, it gets old really fast, and you'll just want to carry on playing normally, there's a lot of watching during Dragon Rushes.
 The Capsules return, and are just like they were on Budokai 1: On paper, it's a cool and fun idea, but the default movesets for each character are really lame, Goku can't even go Super Saiyan 1, so you will have to grind money and pray for luck when entering the store, in order to get what you want. Instead of a Story Mode, you have Dragon Universe. There's about 10 characters that have a Dragon Universe, and it follows the story of Dragon Ball Z, but it's told via character cut outs and dialogue, not very interesting or engaging. During Dragon Universe, you get to raise the level and place stat points on your character, but this only applies here and in the Dragon Arena. The World Tournament Mode returns, alongside versus mode, and there's a new mode, Dragon Arena. In Dragon Arena, you can take any of the 40+ characters and level them up, as you fight enemies of different levels.

 The presentation is beautiful. Characters now sport cell-shading and unique stances! Animations also flow and look much better, even if some return from Budokai 1. And while there are some basic moves shared among characters, all the strings are unique to each character, so that's pretty cool. The music fits the game, although if you played the original version, you will find out that all the music is different here too. The american dub is still pretty good, but now you can switch it to Japanese, if that is your jam.
 So, is it worth it? Yes. Budokai 1 is pretty dated, and the gameplay is way more polished and satisfying in 3, however, the story mode deserves to be played at least once. And Budokai 3 is worth every penny. As a package, Budokai HD Collection is a bit disappointing though, as horrible as Budokai 2 was(You will need to go through the Story Mode in order to unlock everything), it's omission feels more as lazy than due to it's quality, then there's the minor annoyance that you have to quit the game(From the XMB!) in order to swap games, poor design choice right there, and some people may find issue with the fact that the cutscenes kept the old ratio, at least the gameplay is in complete widescreen.
 Budokai 1: 4 out 10.
 Budokai 3: 8 out of 10.
 Budokai HD Collection: 7 out of 10.

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