Contact

Contact
Role Playing Game - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 3 saves
1 player / Multi wifi

"Things you WON'T find in Contact: A dull moment. Normalcy. A guy with spikey hair and/or amnesia. Dramatic monologues. The same battles you've been fighting since the 16 bit era.

Things you WILL find in Contact: Monkeys. Cosmic terrorists. Powerful attack stickers. Fishing. Cooking. Humor. Fun with Nintendo Wi-Fi. Deeper meaning in life. (Results may vary.) Costumes that increase your power and make you more fun to be around."

That is the description on the back of the box. Although the assertions are not entirely incorrect, I'm not sure if I got what I wanted either.

Let's start with "the same battles you've been fighting since the 16 bit era". True to form, Contact isn't like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy and the like. Instead, it mirrors old western style RPGs like MUDs or whatever where you simply initiate the attack, and every "turn" you'll automatically attack until you or the enemy dies. You could stop your attacking, but then the enemy would just pursue you and hit you all the while. You could bring up a menu screen and use items. Or you can use one of your special attacks/magic spells. That's the extent of the fighting. It's simple, but ... not particularly involving.

How about "Dramatic monologues"? There isn't much of that either, but instead, there's this hokey interaction between the on-screen characters and you, the player. While this has been done before in Panzer Dragoon Saga, it's a bit patronizing here because they constantly talk to you. It's very childish and won't let you forget you're playing a game.

And believe me, "dull moment"s are not in short supply. The overall plot is a simple one: collect all the crystals, so the Professor character can pilot his ship into space. The crystals are spread out on multiple areas, and are guarded by bosses. Shoe string plots don't bother me, but as I mentioned earlier, gameplay is not its strongest suit. The combat is so un-involving that you don't actually do a whole lot in the game. And that's the biggest weakness. You're just moving a character through the motions.

Combine lack of control with tedium and you get the rest of the game. Many of the systems the game has to offer: fishing, cooking, etc is just plain tedious. Leveling up happens in real time. As you get hit, you build up defense and vitality. As you cast water spells, you gain in that affinity. Each stat levels up individually so in a single attack, you could level up two different stats at once. But while often used stats are fairly fluid in their improvement, things like cooking are cumbersome. You can only level up your cooking stat by cooking. You can only use your cooking skill at designated locations. You only have cooking skill when you're in the Chef outfit. You can only change into your Chef outfit on your ship. There's so many limitations that unless you have the right costume at the right time, you end up having to go places twice. Or thrice.

Still, despite all its problems, Contact is not a complete wash. It does have charm in other ways. The presentation is very quirky. Some of it is meant to resemble old terminal stations. When you fire up the game, you interface menus with function keys! The top screen generally has the actions of the Professor and dog in an 8-bit style, while the bottom screen has what you'd expect of DS visuals. There is a later stage that is a tribute to the Famicom too. It's little details like this where you know the developers were having fun with it. Plus the battles weren't 100% mindless. The bigger bosses required some movement on your part, sometimes with a stylus. They are generally better designed than the usual "initiate attack, watch your HP, heal when needed, enemy dead". Plus the game has a TON of sidequests for all the OCD collectathon people.

When it comes right down to it, Contact is not a great game by anyone's standard. I don't even know if it's average. But somehow, I did not mind playing it. Is that success, then? Perhaps. I only know that I could never recommend it.

Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition

Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition
Stylish Action - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 8 saves
1 player

Delays are temporary, mediocrity is forever.

Probably the only thing I liked about Working Designs is that quote from Vic Ireland. What does that have to do with DMC3? Not a whole lot, actually - other than the part about mediocrity.

Devil May Cry 3's main claim to fame is its combo system. You can equip two weapons and two guns, and there's a lot of flexibility to chain long strings of combos and juggle opponents into oblivion. One button is reserved for your gun attacks and another is for your melee weapon, so it's easy to manage. Also appreciated is the ability to switch to your other weapon/gun on-the-fly with a single button press. Everything is very fluid.

The only problem is that the game doesn't revolve around the combo system. The game IS the combo system.

DMC3 is broken up into stages. Littered throughout the stages are tons of enemies to fight. But the enemies exist only as fodder for you to juggle. They are not very powerful, nor do they require much pattern recognition. The game just surrounds you with enemies and lets you do your stuff. Then there's the half-assed platforming. The combination of loose controls and dramatic camera angle changes make the platforming a chore. Perhaps Capcom chose right by not making platforming a key ingredient in the game. But in the end, the enemies and the stages themselves feel like they're there just to pad the game and hold you over until the boss fights.

But what incredible bosses there are. Easily, the best part of the game, they will have you tearing your hair out in frustration. That's exactly the type of game I like. The bosses are ruthless and have very limited opportunities to strike. The difficulty forces you to utilize every technique from running to chaining combos to double jumping in order to win. It's the only part of the game that feels like you're playing a game.

I do not understand why developers have forgotten how to make a proper game that is engaging throughout. Sure, normal enemies were never on the level of bosses, but the padding in DMC3 is a bit too much. Unless you're the type of person who gets off of watching yourself pull off 30 hit combos on defenseless enemies, the experience is rather empty in between boss fights.

I have not even begun to discuss the other elements that bring DMC3 down like the awful camera that loves to obscure your view so that most of your enemies are off-screen, or the fact that the entire game takes place inside of "rooms", or the pathetic combination of over-the-top cheese and forced melodrama.

Devil May Cry 3 is a one trick pony. But I don't particularly enjoy the trick. The combo flexibility means that instead of mindlessly executing 5-button combinations, you slightly-less-mindlessly execute 20-button combinations. That's hardly my idea of fun, and does little to pass the time between one boss fight and the next. DMC3 is strictly for the ADD crowd.

Final Fantasy V Advance

Final Fantasy V Advance
RPG - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 4 saves
1 player

I admit. I have a soft spot for the original Final Fantasy. Maybe it's the nostalgia or maybe it's the competition at the time, but it was the game that got me into jRPGs. And that's about all I play now. I loved having a party of characters. That opened up a lot of strategic options not previously available in games like Dragon Quest/Warrior, where you were only a single person. I loved how it offered a bunch of different classes, each very unique in the abilities they had. I loved being able to choose your party members to make your party the way you want to play. It gave you some customization options to cater the game to your playing style. FFV is an evolution of those original ideas. I played the original FFV on Super Famicom and fell in love. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked in the middle of playing it, so I only got about half-way through before the owner took it back. When Square decided to port this game to the GBA, I knew I had to have it. And sure enough, the magic was still there. Final Fantasy V is without a doubt the best FF I've played. But is that enough?

If an epic, well-read storyline is what you're after, look elsewhere. FFV is only slightly more deep than the plot of the first game, meaning it's not very deep at all. It's simply a bare-bones structure to keep the game going. I don't mind it at all. It makes no pretenses about what it is, which is refreshing. Modern RPGs have a lot more dialog and more fleshed out characters. But that doesn't make them any higher quality - just more wordy. Nevertheless, even in its simplicity, FFV does have a hokey script. It's almost embarassing. But thankfully, storyline is not the only thing FFV offers.

The meat of FFV is its class system. When you begin the game, your characters are "Freelancers", meaning no specific class. But as you progress, you'll be able to change any of your characters to any of the available classes by just opening up the status menu. Classes have their own inherent abilities, menu commands, stats, and upgrades. Change a party member to a Thief, and automatically their stats change to emphasize speed & agility. In addition, when traversing the overworld, you're now able to run at double speed and you can detect invisible paths to boot. In fights, your Thief character has an additional option: Steal. So now your thief can steal items instead of attacking an enemy.

While this system is very cool in of itself, FFV takes it a step further. When you win battles, you win your normal EXP which improves your stats. But in addition, you win AP (ability points) that level up the class you're currently using. The Thief, when leveled up, eventually learns Mug - an upgrade of Steal that combines an Attack with Steal. Pretty cool, huh? The kicker of FFV is... many of these abilities can be transferred. Once you've learned Mug, you can switch your class to a White Mage. Now your stats are biased towards magic usage (magic defense up, physical strength down) and you can use White magic to heal party members, etc. But equip the White Mage with the Mug ability, and now you've got a little Thief-flavor too. The possibilities are endless. A Black Mage that can cast Black & White magic. A Blue Mage that learns the opponents' spells, but has a barehanded attack like a Monk. It is this level of customization that separates FFV from other examples in the genre. And it's fun! Experiment with different combinations to try out strategies and see what works best for you.

The only problem is that it's still a Final Fantasy. I like a lot of ideas in FFV, and I found myself really enjoying it. But as I played on, it wasn't enough to overpower the shortcomings of the series. At every turn, it still reeked of FF: the tedium of random battles, the same rehash of a simplistic combat system, the lack of strategic thinking. It's a good take on a generic mundane RPG, but it's a generic mundane RPG nevertheless. So I found myself wavering between having fun and being bored out of my mind all the time. Unfortunately, boredom won out in the later parts of the game.

As far as the GBA conversion goes, I couldn't really tell any deficiencies. There's four new classes for FFVa that the original didn't have, which is a nice bonus. But having maxed out three of them (the fourth is not available until 2nd playthrough), they're really unnecessary, and I personally wouldn't use them in my party. There's also a long bonus dungeon for the OCD type. Nice extras though, for those who dig the game.

So there you have it: The best Final Fantasy is still a Final Fantasy. I cannot wait to play one that's not. FFXII is on my queue.

Beatmania IIDX

Phoenix Wright Trials & Tribulations / Gyakuten Saiban 3

Phoenix Wright Trials & Tribulations / Gyakuten Saiban 3
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

The third game in the series is also the best yet. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the 2nd game. But this one not only ties up the overall storyline, it also has the best individual cases too.

There are no surprises in terms of gameplay. No new mechanics are introduced here, but you get the psyche-locks and the ability to present people's profiles as evidence from the previous game. The writing is also no surprise, with an interesting script and references to pop culture.

But there are a few differences from Justice for All. For one thing, pacing is much tighter. Justice for All had very long courtroom and investigation sequences that dragged out for all three court dates. In Trials & Tribulations, there are short trials, medium length ones and a long one. The variation is a much needed improvement because the monotony of the second game made it easy to get bored. Also, the cases in this third game are less out there and more in line with real criminal cases. And luckily, this one sports an awesome soundtrack composed by Iwadare Noriyuki of Lunar/Grandia/Growlanser fame. It doesn't have the same catchiness as the first game, but it's probably the most listenable soundtrack of the three.

One thing about the series that shines is the cast, and this one's no different. People from both previous games make appearances here. New ones introduced in Trials & Tribulations are just as memorable, if not more so. In particular, one of the characters is so evil that you couldn't forget even if you wanted to.

But for all I liked about this third outing, the last case left a bad taste in my mouth. Most people feel that the last case of this game is the best in the series. Without treading into spoiler territory, I found it to be the most contrived case of all, with a lot of unnecessary connections, overuse of certain members of the cast, and twists that are very hard to believe. It felt like a forced conclusion to everything, and is the opposite of everything I loved about Case 4, which is definitely my pick of the series.

Nevertheless, the game as a whole exceeds all expectations and is a necessary addition to anyone who has been following the series, or even those who were numbed by the 2nd game. Gyakuten Saiban 4 has a new cast for the most part, so it will be interesting to see what direction the series takes. At the very least, the DS-only features should make the cases more interactive than they have been. I'm looking forward to it.

ICO

ICO
Adventure - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 10 saves
1 player

It's kind of funny how I played ICO after SotC. Usually I try to play games in the order they were developed, just to see how ideas were evolved. But I ended up owning (and opening) SotC before I did ICO. It's quite alright though, because both games are pretty well made, and different too.

Although the 3D visuals are amazing for the system, what struck me more is the feeling of cohesiveness and scope. I've come to realize that in most games, there are a bunch of levels or rooms all thrown together. Rarely do they all mesh together to form one complete environment. But ICO pulls it off extremely well. Each room flows naturally into the next, and each brick, pipe, accessory, etc. is meticulously placed. The designers had the layout planned to the last detail. And the vastness of the areas truly give ICO a sense of grandeur. The castle is huge, and it feels like it.

The core of the gameplay is very similar to Tomb Raider - basically a 3D puzzle platformer. There's a fluidity to the platforming, the animations, and in being able to grab onto ledges, swing on ropes, and shimmy across pipes. But instead of exploring the castle on your own, you have a partner. The female protagonist is Yorda, and part of the charm of the game is her limited abilities. For example, she cannot go up and down ropes. So the puzzle-solving is in figuring out how to get her to advance to the next part of the castle with you. You'll be flipping switches, making long jumps, moving blocks, throwing bombs, and extending your arm out for Yorda to grab. Just by having Yorda in the game, she herself becomes one of the tools to solving some of the puzzles. It's an interesting twist.

There's a little action in the game as well. During certain segments of the game, shadow creatures start appearing and try to drag Yorda into their black hole nest. Once that happens, it's an automatic game over. But you're able to fight them off, and latch onto Yorda's arm to pull her out of the hole before she becomes completely enveloped. You'll come across several different weapons to dispose of the shadow creatures, but even the weakest weapon is good enough to fend them off. It just takes a bit longer to do so.

The problem with ICO is that it never really becomes all that interesting. The action segments do not really change much. Sure you'll come across shadows that are bigger and stronger, but it does not change the monotony of whacking them over and over and over. Those parts are not difficult either. You get the feeling they're thrown in there just to add a little bit of tension. However, all they've added is tedium. The puzzle parts are also not particularly involving. 98% of the puzzles require no thought whatsoever. They pretty much point and limit you to a single path so you'll end up finding a switch that opens up your next point. I admit that a couple of the puzzles had me completely stumped (more because I thought too much about the puzzle rather than too little), but by far the puzzles are very light. Likewise, the platforming elements also lacked challenge. It only started to get more interesting at the very end, with some parts that required some precision and timing in your jumps. But you really didn't need much skill for the majority of the game.

In the end, I'm not really sure why ICO received such attention. Yeah, it looks and sounds great. And the game really ain't too bad. But the game ain't that great either, and that's the big sticking point. It might be unfair to compare it to Team ICO's next effort, but SotC resonated with me a lot more. Neither is worth replaying. But a run through SotC engaged my mind and reflexes more than ICO ever did. It's that lack of engagement that keeps ICO from greatness. The couch save points are a cute touch, though.

Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus
Adventure - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 10 saves
1 player

SotC is the followup effort from Team Ico. While it still retains the puzzle-platforming elements (jumping, grabbing, climbing, moving along ledges, etc.) of ICO, SotC forges its own path by concentrating on one thing: Boss fest.

Shadow of the Colossus does away with regular enemies and dungeons and gets right to the point. There are sixteen bosses in the game scattered throughout the game world. The locales and surroundings really convey a sense of isolation, which adds to the mysterious atmosphere. And the map is huge! You could get lost easily and be wandering around for hours. But the game provides a form of guidance... raise your sword in the sunlight and a light will point in the general direction of the next colossus to fight. While that may seem like it's too easy, it's actually just the right amount of guidance, because it shines a straight path to the boss. But because of how the world is laid out, it's not always so straightforward to actually find a colossus.

Once you encounter a boss, fights are not very difficult. But they are challenging. The best part about SotC is that the bosses all require a bit of thinking. Each of them have certain weakpoints. The key to the game is figuring out where those weakpoints are, and how to get to them. They are colossi after all, so they are anywhere between 10 to 50x your size! You'll have to use your brain, whatever items are available to you, your landscape, and the bosses themselves to take them down. In case you get stuck, the game will also drop a clue or two. They're generally helpful enough to get you to think in the right direction, but they're vague enough so as not to give away the solution. I usually don't like hand-holding in games, but this one does it at just the right level. I really enjoy these types of logic-based fights, as it makes every fight unique.

There are also some platforming elements that are similar in style to Ico and Prince of Persia. In the beginning, these elements are pretty minor. But towards the end, you'll really have to master the controls. The situations will force you to do so. All in all it's a game that's all meat, and no filler.

SotC isn't perfect though. The framerate is choppy, as if the PS2 just couldn't handle it. And like many 3D games, the camera can be a nuisance. But while these flaws exist, they hardly made the game unplayable. The game would be the same whether it had a stuttering framerate or ran at a smooth 60 fps. And the camera can be manipulated with the analog stick.

While there may be a couple of technical concerns, Shadow of the Colossus shines everywhere else. I haven't come across any other game like it. There have been puzzle platformers before, but this is the first puzzle boss rush. The way the designers spread the bosses out on a huge living and breathing world completes the package. Although sixteen bosses doesn't sound like a large number, the game is plenty long with the travel time & thinking time. Everything is about exploration - exploring the world to find the next colossus, and exploring the colossus to find its weakpoints. It's a cool concept, and an even cooler game. This is a modern classic.

Phoenix Wright Justice for All

Phoenix Wright Justice for All / Gyakuten Saiban 2
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

One of the things I love about this series is the continuity of story. GS2 is a direct follow-up to the first game. Events that occured in the original will be referenced here. Characters from the past will return here as well. Every action has a consequence for this game, and games to come. In case you missed it, Gyakuten Saiban is a visual novel where you play the role of a defense attourney. You'll have to do investigations to gather evidence, and then find contradictions in court to win your case. It's a refreshing idea, and Capcom has executed it well. Once GBA games, they have been rereleased for the DS with touch-screen functionality for easier interface. Once again, GS2 DS has both Japanese and English options. Justice for All only has English.

There's not a whole lot to say about GS2. If you've played the first, you know what to expect. Slight differences exist, though. The first game had an exclusive DS-only case. This one does not. Instead, it has four total cases. But the cases are fairly long and still make this a 15-20 hour game. Also, whereas the original generally had 3 days of court proceedings, GS2 keeps them to 2. This might seem like you're getting less, but that's not the case. There are some additions that change up the style of play.

The major addition is "psych-locks". You'll receive an item that allows you to get a sense of a person's heart. If someone is harboring a secret, you're able to see that they have locked their heart away from you. The only way to break the locks are to present them evidence that you already kinda know what they're hiding from you. Then they'll confess with you the truth. What this means is that while the court sessions are shortened, investigation sequences are elongated. You'll also be penalized if you present wrong evidence in unlocking the psych-locks, however if you successfully unlock them all, you can remove penalties. This creates a feeling of tension both inside and outside of the courtroom. I welcome the change, as it makes this second outing feel slightly different from the first.

Another addition to the game is the ability to use people as "evidence". You'll have your normal list of evidence items, but there's also profiles of each character you come in contact with. So that way, you can ask people you meet about other characters. I also enjoyed this addition because it helps to flesh out the characters more. Sometimes the details are important for the case, and other times it's just background information. Either way, it helps the game to feel less rigid.

Overall, I liked the game, but for different reasons than the first. In honesty, I thought the cases themselves were less interesting/more bizarre. Maybe I thought they were less interesting -because- they were more bizarre. It just removes a layer of realism so it's harder to take seriously. Nevertheless, the additions in gameplay were interesting, and I can't wait to see what else they do. Justice for All/GS2 also furthered the running continuity of its world and I can already see that things are set in motion for future titles. GS3 DS couldn't come sooner.

Anubis Zone of the Enders Special Edition

Anubis Zone of Enders Special Edition
Action - PS2
Memory Card - 5 save slots
1-2 player

I've never played the first ZOE. But maybe that's a good thing, because no one really talked about it aside from the MGS2 demo bundled with it. That all changed with ZOE2. I'm not sure what Kojima changed in the sequel, but people began to take notice. I had the chance to finally play through Anubis ZOE Special Edition. Anubis ZOE is the Japanese name of the title (US: ZOE the 2nd Runner), and the Special Edition refers to the bonus content, extra difficulty levels, extra missions, versus mode, etc that was added to the budget rerelease. This is one cool game! But being a cool game and being a good game are totally different things.

Anubis has some of the slickest visuals I've seen in a game. The CG mecha cut scenes are action-packed and meticulously directed. The actual game visuals are no less impressive, with explosions, laser showers and enemies surrounding you. The craziest weapon in the game forms in real-time around your mecha as you charge it for 20 or so seconds. Everything oozes style.

The actual game ain't too shabby either. It's advertised as high speed mecha action, and that's exactly what it is. You have full freedom to fly in any direction - left analog to position, R2 to dash/fly, and ascend/descend buttons. The controls are fluid and very intuitive. There is a lock-on cursor that directs your attacks to specific enemies, so that your camera is directed toward where the enemies are. This is extremely helpful because fast moving enemies will fly all over the place and you need to be able to locate them quickly if you're taking them down. You're also able to grab objects in the environment - sometimes even enemies - and use them as shields or weapons! It's all very cool. Boss battles play out in clever fashion. Most of them require deciphering patterns and figuring out weaknesses. This is just the way I love my boss fights.

With all these things going for it, what went wrong?

It all comes down to the core of the gameplay. It really isn't particularly interesting. Maybe it's because I haven't played too many 3D action games, but I can't help comparing ZOE2 to Ninja Gaiden Black. I get a similar vibe from both of them. Problem is, ZOE2 is vastly inferior. The action in Anubis is limited mostly to a single attack button. There is a sub-weapon button too, but those aren't usually used in conjunction with your main attack. For ranged combat, your choices are a homing laser or a energy shot. For melee combat, you have a sword that's good for a combo consisting of button mashing the attack button 4x. The gameplay is too simple for its own good. In fact, there's not a whole lot to do in the game aside from button-mash the attack & dash buttons all the way through.

Some other irritations come with the camera. Because of the lock-on system, your camera is always centered on an enemy. It's helpful when you're actively unleashing an offensive attack to kill an enemy. But there were instances where I wished to have my free camera back so I could avoid flying into traps. There are some parts of game where you could get killed by the environment. But if your camera is locked in on an enemy, you're not able to fly correctly. That is, your controller motions only navigate your mech with respect to your enemy. Not with respect to your physical coordinates, so while taking down an enemy, you could end up being crushed by enclosing walls and not see it coming. Another annoyance is when you first start playing the game, there are cut scenes every 10 seconds. I like cut scenes and all but come on! Let me play the game! These little issues aren't game-breakers. Just annoyances.

Still, Anubis Zone of Enders is a well-executed game overall. My main concern is the gameplay isn't all that great. With the lack of depth in the action, there isn't much to do but push the same two buttons over and over again. The bosses are definitely the highlight of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed those battles, and am curious to see how things change on higher difficulties. But even fun boss fights and nice visuals can't save Anubis from being a (well-executed) mediocre experience.

Zero Shisei no Koe/Fatal Frame 3

Zero: Shisei no Koe
Survival Horror - PS2
Memory Card - 5 save slots
1 player

Here comes the finale to Tecmo's Zero/Fatal Frame series. As a finale, Shisei no Koe brings together both story & gameplay elements from the first two games, while trying to maintain its own identity. To that end, the 3rd entry pulls it off pretty well. But it's in this new identity that the game completely trips over itself.

Rei is the new protagonist for this outing. The story begins with an auto accident that leaves Rei alive, but her fiance, Yuu, dead. As she tries to return to a life of normalcy, on one photographer assignment she sees Yuu and takes a picture. Sure enough, when the photo is developed, he is in it. What's going on here? And why does she find herself in a freaky mansion when she sleeps? Soon her assistant, Miku (heroine of the first game) begins to dream of the same world. When Kei, a friend of Yuu and coincidentally a relative of the twins in the second game, gets involved, then he's dragged into it too. As you can already see, everything seems a little too far-fetched and contrived.

The overall game structure is quite different from the first two games. Since the manor takes place in dreams, you have to sleep in order to visit the nightmare realm. Each day, you'll be in Rei's apartment triggering events so that it'll become evening. Occasionally some of the dream oddities will seep into reality, so even her apartment is not necessarily a safe haven. Sleeping enters you into the dream world, and usually at the start of a new chapter. Finish its objectives, and you'll wake up in reality the next day - sometimes very abruptly. It's very cyclical.

It's the cyclical nature that makes Zero 3 feel like a chore. Whenever you're in Rei's apartment, you make the exact same paths to every location to make sure you haven't missed a new item that has sprung up or a trigger point. It's completely repetitive, and you have to do it every day and night. The feeling isn't much different even when you're in the dream manor. You'll come to see that little thought was given to item locations because 95% of the items are in the same location every night. The game becomes too predictable for its own good.

Related to the respawning items is Shisei no Koe's general lack of difficulty. I've found most of the enemies to be easier than ghosts in the previous two games. But what makes it worse is that you start each dream with 3 medicine bottles, with chance of collecting 7 more each night. So there's no penalty for using medicines since you always get them. If you should happen to run out, you could even leave the dream and come back to have it reset to 3 without having to redo all the events over again. This is the finale! Why are they suddenly being so lenient? There are a couple of ghosts that will give you trouble, but they are almost too hard (cheap?) for their own good.

Then the latter quarter of the game, they have this stupid gimmick where you have to collect these "Purifying Light" candles to keep the main ghost away. The designers probably thought it would create tension, but in a game like this where you may have to figure out your next destination, it creates irritation instead. Why should I be penalized for exploring the mansion the game gives me? Luckily there are enough purifying light items scattered throughout, that you probably won't ever be stuck without it for too long. But if they're readily available, then why have it as a system in the first place? The whole thing just reeks of a last-minute addition.

Despite my barrage of criticism, it's a Zero game so it's still doing something right. The scares are still present, although it's a little less psychological. And the combat is still fun - the best aspects from the previous games made it. I found Crimson Butterfly to be too slow in its battles, so I'm very grateful to see that they made it as fast-paced as the first game, with the technical aspects from the second. You still need to wait for openings, and chain fatal frame opportunities accurately, but without those annoying 5 second reload times. The powerful film is much more sparse this time, so that improvement is much needed.

I found myself liking Zero Shisei no Koe less because it's a good game, and more because it's a Zero game. Throughout the entire time, I did not feel all that connected to it. The combination of lazy repetitive design & jarring transitions from dream world to real world kept me from being immersed in the dream manor. The story did not tie up some of the bigger questions (although, I do know there is an alternate ending at higher difficulty). The framerate stuttered so badly at times, that the action slowed to a crawl. It also lacked variety in enemies. Get 70% through, and you've seen all the ghosts you're going to fight. It just seemed like the game was poorly planned and rushed to market without a clear focus. It's also unfortunate that it wasn't ported to the XBox, because 5.1 audio makes a game like this so much more atmospheric. But if it's of any consolation, they packed a lot of extras (costumes, photo & video galleries, mission mode, etc) into this one.

There was just nothing special about Zero 3 - the first two games one-upped it on pretty much everything. The only exception would be the last boss. Now that was an intense challenge! It's just a shame that the rest of the game couldn't match up.

Rhythm Tengoku

Rhythm Tengoku
Rhythm - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 1 save
1 player

From the makers of Wario Ware, Inc. comes another quirky compilation. This time it's a collection of rhythm games. Perhaps due to the success of the Brain Training games, Rhythm Tengoku emulates that kind of structure. The game starts out with a preliminary assessment of your rhythm ability. From there, you'll be playing a variety of rhythm minigames. Depending on how well you do, your rhythm ability rating will go up or down.

The minigames themselves are all totally random and quite ... unorthodox. One minigame has these two characters bouncing on a trampoline. Press the buttons according to the rhythm and the trampoliners will turn into foxes. Then back into humans. Then foxes. Yeah. I don't get it either. My favorite minigame is a set of four girls dancing to Ondo music. As the singer sings the lyrics, you just have to clap whenever the word "Pan" is sung. It's very cute and can be quite funny too. Whenever you mess up, the other girls glare at you. Some of the cooler stages are what's called "Remix" stages. Remix stages basically take the last 6 stages and "remix" them into a single minigame. It's pretty awesome in tying all the stages together to test what you've learned.

The way the overall game works is that you play a minigame. If you fail, then you can't move on. Once you pass it, you'll unlock the next minigame. If you do especially well, you'll be awarded a medal for that minigame. Medals help unlock extras in the game, such as bonus stages or options. And finally, as you progress, sometimes a previous minigame will be highlighted with a Perfect Challenge. If you then pass that minigame without any mistakes, you'll earn a Perfect rating on it. One neat extra is the chance to jam with a band as a drum player. You're not graded on your performance, so there's no challenge in it. But it's just a free-form session of just being able to mess around and create your own beats to the songs. It's a great inclusion just for the ability to let loose and be free.

Rhythm Tengoku isn't particularly lengthy, although it does have a plentiful amount of minigames. But there's a lot of replay value in first passing all the stages, then medaling all the stages, and finally getting a perfect on all the stages. I haven't quite accomplished getting 100% perfect, but I'm working on it. The minigames can be pretty challenging, and the timing is far less forgiving than most rhythm games I've played. But that's also what makes Rhythm Tengoku fun. Practice makes perfect.

The Gameboy Advance is pretty much on its last legs. But with games like Rhythm Tengoku, it's going out with a huge bang. This is definitely a treat for rhythm lovers everywhere.

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
Rhythm - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save
1-2 players

Funny thing. Ouendan may be more well known in the West than it is in Japan. In Japan, sales were absolutely dismal, among the worst selling DS games in its library. Yet, on certain internet English gaming boards, Ouendan has gotten a lot of buzz. Its supporters claim it's the best game on the DS. Apparently the buzz must have been something, because Japanese developer INiS is creating an English version from the ground-up just so that it can come out in the West.

The concept is simple. Use your stylus to touch circles on the screen on-beat, follow the paths of those circles, and make spinning motions as fast as you can as directed. It's very similar to most rhythm games where the key is to follow the beat. A score of 300 is given for exact timing. Being slightly off results in a score of 100. A bigger deviation achieves a score of 50. Anything outside of that is a miss. But Ouendan makes this rhythm game its own by utilizing the DS' features. Not only do you have to be on-beat, but you must tap the exact position of the circles on the touch screen. This adds a dimension of accurate positioning on top of accurate timing. Ouendan also features really nice "choreography" in its positioning of its tap circles. It will feel like you're dancing using the stylus. It's in this connection that makes Ouendan stand out in its genre. There's no other game like it.

Presentation is also top-notch, with a total wacky-jappy feel to it. The whole basis of the game stems from a "cheering squad" of men. Each stage has its own story told manga-style. The story usually presents a difficulty, and then in a cry of desperation, they'll call out for this cheering squad. So your rhythmic and choreographed actions will help the male cheerleaders cheer on the scenario character. Playing two players (requires two carts) gives you the option of cooperative play or competitive. Cooperative play just splits the notes between both users. Either way, you'll get an entirely new set of stories specific to multiplayer. It's a neat bonus. As far as the songs, most are famous jRock songs, but there's a little pop and hip hop thrown in there too. Technically the songs are covers, but they tried to find singers that emulate the original material and it works pretty well.

All of this adds up to a package that is unforgettable and irresistable. With several difficulty options and a rank given to you based on overall score, you'll have a blast playing your way through all the stages again and again for improvement. You're not really give anything extra for it, but the game is so fun that you'll want to replay it anyway. Ouendan isn't my favorite DS game - that title still belongs to Daigassou Band Brothers, but it's a definitely a must-buy. It's one of the few games that could only be done on the DS. It's truly a unique experience.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney / Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten
Adventure - Nintendo DS
Battery Backup - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban is a series that started out on the GBA and has an enormous following. It's an adventure game in lawyer's clothing. Your role is a defense attourney and not only will you be conducting investigations outside of the courtroom, but you'll have to poke holes into witness testimony in the courtroom to win cases. This DS outing is a port of the first game, with the inclusion of a 5th case specific to the DS. A fourth GyakuSai game will be released soon for the DS as well. An interesting thing to note is that the Japanese version of the DS game comes with an English option, so importers actually get both languages.

But is the game any good? I'd say it depends on whether you could enjoy a text adventure game. You can't get around that structure. Sometimes you'll have the option to examine a crime scene using a point and click interface. Sometimes you'll need to figure out what to show people in order to get them to help you. But by and large, you'll be reading tons of text with little interactivity. If you can get past that, Phoenix Wright is quite an interesting game.

What I like most about it is that there's a logical component. In the courtroom, you are presented with testimonies from witnesses and using only what they say, you have to find ways to disprove their version of events. You'll have to know every piece of evidence you have inside-out and point out contradictions. Many are not immediately obvious, but the clues are there. You just have to pay attention to detail. It's in this logical aspect that differentiates Phoenix Wright from other games of the genre.

What's also great about the game is its continuity of story and depth of characterization. There are 5 total cases here and while they could easily be 5 unconnected court cases in the life of an attourney, Phoenix Wright takes great care in its characters. Characters are affected by outcomes of previous court cases. There are consequences to each case that shape who the main characters become. The characters are not simply static roles, but rather people with their own motivations, their own goals, their own beliefs, and all of these things change as time progresses. Care was also taken in its English translation, which is much appreciated. It's obvious from the references that they did not literally translate the dialog from the Japanese version. All of the important bits, yes, but all the names are changed, and many of the jokes were also changed to read more fluidly. The dialog made me laugh on many an occasion.

The entire time I was playing it, I couldn't put the game down. It's not perfect - the second case was kinda hokey, the game structure is really strict as to when you present evidence to advance the story, there are typos and spelling errors throughout the fifth case, etc - but Phoenix Wright stands out for its use of logic, its great translation, and its realistic portrayal of characters. At about 35 hrs length, it's pretty meaty for an adventure game. I can't wait to see what's next. With that, I couldn't be happier that a port of GyakuSai 2 was recently announced for the English DS audience.

Riviera ~ The Promised Land

Riviera ~ The Promised Land
RPG - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves, 1 quicksave
1 player

While developer Sting has experience with RPG-like games, they have never made a traditional jRPG - until Riviera. But for a jRPG, Riviera is as non-traditional as they come. Whether that's a good or bad thing is up for debate. Opinions for Riviera span the spectrum. Some find it incredibly dull and limiting. Others enjoy the streamlined structure and the strategic battles. They will all agree on one thing though. The game is slow. I found it to be all of those things. A mish-mash of different ideas, Riviera tries but succeeds in part.

Let's talk streamlining. Riviera feels almost SRPG-like in structure because of the lack of free movement. In both towns and dungeons, you move one room at a time. In each "room", you can look at the surroundings, interact with objects, talk to people or move to the next room via menus or controller inputs. You do not physically move your character around with the D-pad like other traditional jRPGs. It's more comparable to old games like Deja Vu/Uninvited/Shadowgate. But unlike those games, whenever you investigate objects, it will cost you Trigger Points (TP). If you don't have any TP, you can't open the treasure chests you find or discover any special items. TP is acquired through high scoring battles or clearing a previous chapter with a high score. This adds a cap to what you're able to investigate so you have to weigh your options. But, if you do well in your fights, you'll never really be short of TP. You'll also encounter various QTEs. Chests will have traps on them or you'll need to jump over large gaps or whatever the situation, so you'll be challenged to enter button combinations in a short time interval or to time button-presses to navigate these parts. This just adds some variety to these segments.

The battles also keep with the theme of choosing wisely. Every weapon has a limited number of uses, and you can only carry 15 different items at any given time. This makes those treasure chests you find all the more valuable. But it's not as bad as it sounds. Chests are pretty frequent and enemies will also drop weapons. It's just that the 15-item carrying capacity forces you to balance out your arsenal. What's neat is that although every character can pretty much use every weapon/item, the actual attacks and effects are character-specific. Weapon attacks can be multi-hit, can have elemental properties, can target specific enemies, or can allow you to do an OverDrive attack. Overdrive attacks function much like the special attack meter in Street Fighter. Whenever you hit an enemy, or they hit you, your overdrive meter rises from level 0-3. Overdrive attacks generally dish out more damage and can be fight-winners. They can also vary on how much of the Overdrive meter is required for usage. Since only 3 party members and 4 weapons/items can be selected per battle, this causes you to weigh out what you think is needed for each fight. Luckily, it's not a blind guess because you are given information on the strengths/weaknesses of each enemy during party and item selection. So there's a bit of pre-battle strategy to consider. But it doesn't stop there.

The actual battles themselves are also very strategic. While you're monitoring your own OverDrive bar, your opponent has a Rage bar. It functions very similarly to yours, but there are some differences. The Rage bar is raised whenever you hit the enemy. But the Rage bar drops between turns. Whenever the rage bar is below the Rage level, your opponents will do normal attacks. When it is above the Rage level, they will do special attacks. And if it hits the Max level, they will do their ultimate attacks. A Max attack will drain the Rage bar back to its lowest point. Killing an enemy will raise the rage bar's lowest point, so it may not be possible to drop the Rage bar to zero. In effect, fights become balancing acts where you may opt to heal your fully-healed character in order to waste your turn. Why? Because you want to drop the enemy's Rage bar. Attacking would only piss off the enemies more and bring them closer to unleashing a huge barrage of attacks against you. Or maybe the best strategy would be to attack the enemy with everything you've got and hope they die before they do their Max move. There are many possibilities. It's a unique fighting system, and it's fun too.

Each battle has a place in the story. There are no random battles. I really like that each battle felt like its own challenge, and strayed from the monotony of most RPGs. Leveling up your characters is based on weapon usage. As mentioned earlier, some weapons allow their user to do OverDrive specials. But to obtain these specials in the first place, you must use that weapon with each specific character an X amount of times. When you fulfill that requirement, you not only gain the OverDrive special, but the character also levels up. So using different items is encouraged by this system. To help you with this process, you can enter a Practice battle anytime. The beauty of practice battles is that using weapons/items does not decrease their quantity. So everytime you come across a new weapon or item, you can use practice battles to acquire those OverDrive attacks and level up your characters without fear of wasting resources. It's a neat system, because it protects against level grinding. Your characters can only level up to a specific point determined by the items you collect.

All of this adds up to a very interesting game. You can see that Riviera is based around the concept of limitation. You always make some decisions in the game at the expense of other options. You can't keep all the items you come across. You can't examine every nook and cranny. On the other hand, it does challenge you to make decisions that would benefit your playing style. And in that sense, it works quite well. There is a loss of freedom compared to other games, but the game is built around that. I still would prefer the traditional exploration of jRPGs rather than room-navigation, but it works for what it is. The fights sometimes do get to be cumbersome because of the slow pace, but it's in the strategy that I enjoy Riviera the most. The OverDrive and Rage gauges turn a fairly normal RPG system into an insane see-saw balancing act that you need to make work for you. I haven't even begun to mention the incredible portrait and cutscene art, the interesting puzzles that you actually have to scribble on paper to figure out, the convenience of being able to quicksave even during a battle, or the character-specific endings, but this 20-ish hour adventure has a lot going for it. Riviera probably isn't for everyone, but I cannot wait to see what else Sting has up its sleeve.

Klonoa Empire of Dreams

Klonoa Empire of Dreams
Puzzle Platformer - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves
1 player

Platform games have been around for a long time. In fact, it might even be said that platformers are the basis of the modern gaming movement. Super Mario Bros. set the world afire and things haven't been the same since. Platform games are thus called for the primary game mechanic of jumping on "platforms". Sometimes they're stationary. Other times, they move. Most of the time, they're not even platforms but simply ground. Regardless, there's an element of position & timing involved in jumping toward the next required "platform". In a world of me toos and property cash-ins, Namco retains the same basic platforming elements, but forges a new path with Klonoa.

Not to be confused with "Door to Phantomile", the first of the Klonoa games, "Empire of Dreams" is an entirely new game for the GBA. While Door to Phantomile was probably more of a traditional platformer, Empire has a larger emphasis on puzzles. The stages are designed so that more often than not, logic is required to complete. Sure there's the usual elements of enemies and much jumping. But it doesn't end there. You will have to use all the elements around you to reach items, unlock doors, and open passages. There are box puzzles, wind tunnels, enemies that detonate, and switches to utilize. Some of the puzzles are pretty straight forward. Others require taking a step back to analyze what you're given, looking at what you need to accomplish, and then planning your solution accordingly. It's all very clever design and gets progressively more complex as the game goes on.

But that's not to say that the rest of the game is a cakewalk. In fact, there are some sections of the game that require a lot of skill and reflexes to navigate through. For instance, each world has forced scrolling stages mixed in with the stages that are more puzzle-oriented. I played one such stage about 50 times to get a perfect run. Admittedly, most of these sections are completely optional and do not affect being able to finish the game. Nevertheless, I was really impressed by the challenge offered for those who prefer skill-based gameplay. For those of you who accept the challenge of trying to find everything, there's a few extra stages that will really test your platforming and puzzle abilities. Again, it's completely optional, but a nice reward for the patient.

Namco has succeeded in its interpretation of the modern platformer. By infusing it with puzzles to solve, Klonoa Empire of Dreams is quite an intellectual game. It's as if Namco realized that most platform games these days aren't very engaging and sought to change up the formula. With well-designed levels that will test both your dexterity and mental capacity, this has easily become one of best platform games I've played.

Astro Boy Omega Factor

Tetsuwan Atom: Atom Heart no Himitsu / Astro Boy Omega Factor
Action - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 3 saves
1 player

When it comes to Astro Boy GBA, the critics are unanimous about its praise. Developed by Treasure, it's hard to imagine they'd drop the ball. Most companies try to sell on the license itself. Astro Boy oozes with personality in that department. Not satisfied to simply use the title character, Treasure sought to incorporate characters from all of Osamu Tezuka's works. Maybe they were trying to do a tribute to the late Tezuka. Or maybe they got their chance to do a megacrossover. Whatever the case, they show that even when they're dealing with licensed material, they can make a good game.

This one's all action. You'll punch, kick, dash and laserbeam your way through the entire game. Along the way, you'll meet characters that will allow you to upgrade your stats. Not all of these characters are easily accessible, so a little exploration is required. On top of this, for each attack you land, your special meter will charge. Once it's full, you're able to perform one of three special attacks. You can store up to 3, 10 or 99 specials depending on what difficulty you play. Much of the game is played like a beat 'em up. You'll be able to combo-punch enemies, and kick them into others, even shoot their falling bodies with a laser beam if you'd like. Simple but effective. Other parts of the game play out like a space shooter. You'll be flying around a forced horizontal scrolling screen, shooting enemies, and dodging like mad. It's in this mix of game styles that keeps Astro Boy fresh. Both styles are very well done, and I especially had fun with the shooter bosses.

But in the end, I'm really ho-hum about it.

I've played and finished the game. I've played most of the game on Hard difficulty. And although the game is entertaining, it's not exactly thrilling. I have no doubt in my mind that Astro Boy is well-made. The problem is it's just that. It seems like it strives for little other than being a decent Tezuka tribute. The actual game is nothing special. It's fun, but for beat 'em ups, Treasure has done better. For shooters, they've done better as well. It lacks the creativity and cleverness that Treasure is usually known for. It just seems like they simply wanted to make it playable instead of phenomenal. It's in that, where I find Astro Boy to be a big let down. All in all, I don't think it's a bad game at all. I simply find it... unnecessary.

* Note: I played the Japanese version of the game that only has "Easy" and "Hard" difficulties. I understand the US version is improved not only in adding a "Normal" difficulty, but adds some enemies as well. If the US version is THAT much better, I'd like to play it someday. But I doubt it would change my overall opinion.

Ninja Five-0

Ninja Five-0
Action - Gameboy Advance
Battery Backup - 1 save
1 player

Also known as Ninja Cop in Europe, although this Hudson-developed Konami-published game was made in Japan, it was never released there and is available only in the West. Strange how that works. But it does work, because Ninja Five-0 is without a doubt one of the crown jewels of the GBA library.

As the name suggests, you control a ninja that's also a cop. That means that in addition to killing bad guys, you'll also be rescuing hostages. Some missions have people you must save before you can clear them. Luckily, that doesn't slow down the pace at all. Armed with a sword and upgradeable shurikens, you'll make quick work of the enemy. But the coolest part of the game is the grappling hook. A mix of Bionic Commando and Umihara Kawase, your grappling hook can grab any wall. You can pull yourself up toward the wall with it, extend it to drop you down further, or swing on it 360 degrees to reach higher ground. Mastering the grappling hook is an absolute necessity, and transforms a standard action game into an awesome one.

The difficulty is also well balanced. It is a challenging game, but not to the point where it's frustrating. A stage might take several tries before you clear it, but that's exactly what I love about it. You'll learn to see the patterns. You'll learn to use the layout of the stage to assist you. It's pure old school feel, and I'm loving it.

But perhaps it's in that old school feel, that I wonder if Ninja Five-0 could be more. Don't get me wrong. It's a very well made game and is a blast to play through. Yet, it doesn't pioneer any new territory and that's where I feel it falls short. The grappling hook is certainly fun and contributes a lot to game design. But it's something we have seen before. What's worse is that level design follows a cookie cutter formula that reminds me of DOOM: kill enemy, get the yellow key, backtrack, open yellow door, break box, get the the red key, backtrack, go through red door, stage clear. It got a bit repetitive and predictable. It's also not very long, with only about 15 or so stages.

Still, despite its shortcomings (which probably sound worse than they actually are), Ninja Five-0 is an excellent game. It's got tons of polish all around, and it's pretty fun to play. For pure 2d action games, it doesn't get much better than this. There's still one thing that confuses me though. Why was this never released in Japan?

Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter

Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter
Role Playing Game - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 1 save, 1 quicksave
1 player

Once in a long while, you come across a game that is so far ahead of the pack that you can't help gush with praise. It aims so high and succeeds so well that you wonder why other games are content on pushing status quo. Breath of Fire V Dragon Quarter is such a game. It is phenomenal, intelligent, challenging, innovative, cleverly designed, and engaging from its FMV intro to Onitsuka Chihiro's "Castle imitation" credits. There aren't enough superlatives to describe it.

Although this is a RPG, I say that loosely. Dragon Quarter takes a completely different direction than the previous 4 Breath of Fire games. It is actually difficult to classify. Most of its structure hails from dungeon crawler design. Just like dungeon crawlers, you'll be challenged to push further and further into the game with few opportunities to save your progress. The emphasis is on survival, and your rewards for doing so is better equipment. Yet, it retains traditional jRPG cues like an overarching story, "towns", and character development. Fights are inspired by SRPGs. It's an ecclectic mix of everything, but is more than the sum of its parts.

The flow of the game is relatively linear. Your end goal is 1000 meters(?) away from the starting point. Getting there requires exploring a series of passageways and areas. All enemies are visible, so you can choose to fight them or avoid them. There will be treasure chests and item boxes along the way to help you in your quest. Some of these can only be opened by special keys obtained by killing all the enemies in an enclosed area. The cool thing is that you can throw things at enemies before encountering them. This is called PETS. If you toss a bomb at them and it hits, they'll be damaged prior to the battle. If you throw meat, you can lure them to you, or away from you. You also can attack them prior to a battle to initiate a battle. This will give your attacking character an extra turn. These are neat systems to keep the game engaging before and within fights.

When you're in a battle, the intensity is turned up even more. Like SRPGs, positioning plays a crucial role. You have to be aware of weapon range, areas of effect, walking distances and things like that. But what's cool is that there is an Action Point system where you can do as much as you want within your turn as long as your Action Points allow. It is reminiscent of Sakura Taisen 3's ARMS system, which was also released around the same time. There are 3 tiers of weapon attacks, each with varying AP values and each mapped to different buttons. You can chain them into a string of attacks. It not only looks cool, but combos get higher attack bonuses too. In addition, any AP remaining from a previous turn is added to your next turn so a valid strategy could be to pass on this turn so that you can do much more on your next. One of the neatest things is how Nina, your spellcaster, can cast magical traps. By placing them on the ground, you can use them to block off routes between the enemy and you. If the enemy wants to get to you, they will have to trigger the trap thus causing them major damage. You also have attacks that could push or pull enemies into traps you place too. Because of all these factors, Dragon Quarter is actually a leap above most strategy games, and a lot more fun too.

In Breath of Fire tradition, one of the cool things that your main character Ryu can do is transform into a dragon. It allows you to do heavily beefed up attacks. But if you could constantly do that, the game would be far too easy. So the designers capped its usage. Specifically, there is a meter called the D-gauge. Everytime you use your dragon powers, your D-gauge goes up. After every turn in dragon form, your gauge goes up. And even when you're in human form, it goes up. When it hits 100, your game is over. Completely finished. You lose. But it's not as bad as it sounds. When you're in human form, the gauge goes up extremely slowly, probably 1% every half an hour. So there's no way you can die from that. But over-reliance on the dragon form during battles can get you killed.

While the survival structure is initially overwhelming, there are game systems that help to alleviate that. The first is PETS, because it allows you to damage & effect enemies prior to a battle, so that the actual battle will be easier. Next is the SOL (Scenario Overlay) system. In essence, the SOL allows you to restart the game from a previous point (ie your save, or start of game). The difference being that SOL allows you to keep your equipment, money, skills, and "party experience" since you last saved. So if you die in a fight that was too hard for you to handle, you could always just SOL instead of a normal restart to make the game easier. It also resets your D-gauge to the last save. The game encourages SOL because certain story sequences occur only when you do it. Using SOL and the dragon powers are not required though. I finished the game pretty much without using either, so you can tailor the game systems to your style of strategy. And although some might not like that there are too few saving opportunities - a common complaint - you can quicksave anywhere (except battles) if you need to take a break.

When you play through the game the first time, there are certain areas that are locked out. But if you decide to replay it, those areas become accessible, depending on your previous game's score, and allow you to face new enemies as well as gain additional abilities and items. It's a nice bonus to an already outstanding game.

Breath of Fire V came out of nowhere. The four games before it are the very definition of generic RPG. But Dragon Quarter strove to not only surpass them, but the genre as a whole. Kudos to Capcom. This is without a doubt, the RPG of its generation.

Vagrant Story

Vagrant Story
Role Playing Adventure - Playstation
Memory Card - 10 slots (2 required)
1 player

I had been avoiding Vagrant Story for quite some time now. I read a little bit about it, and it didn't seem like my cup of tea. But having played Matsuno's other game Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together, I was impressed by its brilliance and wanted to try his other titles. I'm always up for a game that does things differently. Vagrant Story is definitely that.

The problem is... I was right about the game. I had been avoiding VS because I heard that pre-battle preparation was key. To me. preparation didn't equate to strategy. I want my strategy in the battles, not before them. Vagrant Story has a crazy complex affinity system where your weapons and armor are strong against specific types of weapons (Piercing, Edge, Blunt), specific types of classes (Dragons, Humans, Evil, etc), and specific types of realms (earth, fire, holy, etc). When you fight against Human enemies, you grow stronger against Humans. When enemies of the Earth realm attack you, your armor's defense against Earth grows. This replaces the traditional level up system. Your weapons and armor grow with usage. Every enemy you come across will have specific weaknesses. Maybe an Undead enemy is weak against Edged weapons and the Fire realm. Then the best weapon to use against him is one that is strong in Fire, Edge, and strong against Undead. Chances are, you won't have a weapon that meets all three criteria. In fact, it's very likely that for most battles, you may only meet one or two. You are only allowed 8 weapons in your inventory, so you're constantly compromising. Having the wrong combination against an enemy means you will deal close to zero damage. But if you have the best combination, bosses can go down in a few hits. Most of the time, you will be in the middle.

I am unsure of the intended purpose of this 3-fold affinity system. It seems like it's complex just to be complex. Because of the limited inventory slots, there is no possible way you can prepare for all scenarios. So you just have to make trade offs here and there and hope it's good enough for an enemy. I don't think the system added anything to the game, and in some ways just made it more tedious. If you don't have a weapon that works against a boss, you may actually have to start from square one and go off and build it up. Speaking of unnecessary complexities, Vagrant Story also allows the player to fuse weapons and armor together to make new items. While it's nice to be able to create your own items, the problem is that in execution, you're playing the guess and check game. Line up two items, look at their stats individually, and compare to the stats of the newly created item... if it's not a good match, then cancel... and line up the next pair. Repeat until you've gone through every possible combination. Again... I don't think this added to the game, and like the affinity system, made playing a little more tedious.

Luckily, I was also wrong about Vagrant Story. While battle preparation isn't my favorite type of mechanic, VS also allows for plenty of strategy within the battles. Battles take place in real-time, but action stops whenever you pull up the command menu. You can see Matsuno's experience with TO/FFT because terrain plays a role. You can position yourself so that walls or even other enemies are between you and an incoming threat. Enemies can end up hitting their own men if you position yourself right, and cause an internal brawl. It's very cool to be able to use your surroundings for you. Height also plays a role. The battles are also incredibly engaging because there is a timing system. In a single turn, you can chain multiple attacks together if you time it right. You can theoretically do it infinitely until an enemy dies, but the timing is very precise and there's a few tenths of a second in which you can chain. The same applies for defense. If an enemy attacks you, you can set up different defensive arts that have different effects: heal 50% of the damage, reflect 40% of the damage back to the enemy, or many others. For both chaining and defensive arts, an exclamation point appears briefly at the exact moment when you need to press a button. The drawback is that the more chains and defensive arts you use, the higher your RISK meter goes. RISK lowers your accuracy and raises the damage you sustain from attacks. It's a very cool concept and makes the game that much more thoughful and fun. There were several boss battles where I utilized defensive arts as my primary strategy. There were others where giving myself attack bonuses for an all-out offensive was my best plan. There's so much variety offered in the fight scenarios that I was never bored.

In addition to fighting, Vagrant Story plays very much like a 3D platformer. You explore areas, jump over giant chasms, cling to ledges, hop on blocks, and all that. The control is very good too, which makes the platforming integral and not a half-hearted inclusion. One of the more unique things about Vagrant Story is the nature of its puzzles. Unlike most RPGs where it's go one place, pull a switch here, go to another, pull a switch there, Vagrant Story has single-room puzzles. Usually you'll need to get to higher ground to access a doorway, but there's no immediate way to get there. Scattered on the ground are a variety of blocks that you can arrange and stack toward your goal. There are a bunch of these puzzles scattered throughout the game. Some are pretty straightforward. Others require quite a bit of brainwork to figure out. It's absolutely refreshing to see this in a RPG, and it was one of the most enjoyable aspects.

Vagrant Story is quite an interesting game. There isn't quite anything else like it out there. Between the platforming, block puzzles, and intense battles, I couldn't put it down. Nevertheless, the complexity of some of the systems felt too much like experimentation than thought-out game design. For the equipment affinities, sure I coped with the limitations. But I am not convinced that the system was a good idea to start with. The same can be said about the equipment fusion. Nevertheless despite its weaknesses, I have already started to play it again. That speaks volumes about the quality of what's contained within.

Tales of Phantasia

Tales of Phantasia
RPG - Playstation
Backup memory - 10 save slots
1 Player

Love-hate. That's the feeling I get from ToP. As the first entry to Namco's popular Tales series, I can definitely see how it sets itself apart from other RPG series. Yet, that doesn't make this title impervious to complaint. For every step of progress, there's a wall holding it back too.

I was immediately drawn into the game by its dark story. Maybe I don't play enough RPGs, but I can't remember any that began as tragic as ToP. Somehow, it pulled me in. As an anime-ish story, there are definitely a bunch of light hearted moments too. But the tone of the game remains grim throughout. Nevertheless, sometimes I felt like the situations were forced to keep that grim tone. What was initially refreshing became excessive.

I felt the same with the battle system. At the time of its release on the Super Famicom, ToP was cutting edge. The fights happen in real time on a 2D plane, where you have almost full control over one character, and can direct AI or manually use items/cast spells for your party members. I say "almost full control" because things still happen in "turns". They're extremely quick so it's -almost- like playing a hack 'n slash, but there are some slight delays that remind you it's an RPG. The unfortunate drawback is, this is a party-based game and you need to be able to manage your other party members while you're actively controlling your leader. Luckily, most of your party members will be magic users so it's easy to have them cast whatever you want via a menu. What's nice is they even allow you to queue up the next spell for the following turn too. Since it plays out in real time, characters need time to attack & cast spells. If they get hit within that animation, their turn is cancelled. So there's an urgency of hitting your enemies as fast and as much as you can so that their attacks/spells are cancelled, while not allowing them to be close enough to cancel your attacks/spells.

While all of this was fascinating at first, it quickly becomes a chore as you're thrown random battle after random battle after random battle. True to old school RPG form, you'll be facing random encounters as you walk around the overworld and dungeons. The nice thing is ToP does have a few enemies you see on screen. But random encounters are unfortunately the norm. Battles become extremely repetitive. Most require little other than mashing the attack button with your team leader, Cless. Even the boss strategies are easily reduced to: "Hit them over and over so they don't have a chance to attack." The later battles are ridiculously brutal to the point where if you let them get off a single attack, they will have you in a trap until your entire party dies. It's extremely frustrating to be juggled over and over with no hope of getting out. And that's the kind of game ToP ends up being: Juggle or be juggled. Neither of which are that interesting to me.

One area where Phantasia shined is in exploration. Most of the dungeons are layed out well, with some interesting puzzles that require some logic to it. There are a couple that I couldn't figure out without a FAQ, but they're generally clever. There are also a lot of secrets and optional quests you can do, including a multi-floor dungeon with some of the hardest enemies in the game. They are far more difficult than the enemies you face in the last dungeon, so seasoned RPGers should have a blast.

I come out of Tales of Phantasia with mixed feelings. I can see how during its time of release, it was a bold step to change how combat was done. I can also appreciate how Namco put a lot of effort into refining standard elements of the genre. But ToP retains too much of the old jRPG conventions for me to truly enjoy. My feelings toward the game shifted from amused to annoyed to satisfied to bored to frustrated. In the end, I'm somewhat glad I saw it through, but I'd definitely never want to touch it again. The amusement wears off quickly.