Sad Ending and Exciting Beginning

Last night I was playing Oracle of Seasons, and I came across a rather frustrating conundrum. In Level 8, the Sword and Shield Maze, for some reason my Roc's Cape would NOT work in the first underground section I encountered.

For those who have not played the game, you need the Roc's Cape (what I have equipped on the A button) to double jump across that gap. I tried everything I could think of, but nothing worked. The Roc's Cape even works on the upper floor, so I knew it wasn't a timing issue. I just kept falling to a very fiery death. In lots of lava. *sigh* So unfortunately, that is the end of my Oracle of Seasons playthrough. And I was so close to the end of the game too! Hopefully once I get to Oracle of Ages there won't be any sort of glitch like this to deal with.

On the bright side of things, with Oracle of Seasons no longer in my game rotation, I can start a new game. The next one in my pile - Tales of Symphonia Chronicles.

This is the game that started my love for the Tales series, and I'm super excited to play it again, this time with Japanese audio! I originally played the Gamecube release many years ago, and this HD remaster allows me to have voiced skits (finally!) and access to the game's sequel, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World, something I've never had the chance to play. This will be a long journey, but I plan to enjoy every moment.

A Brief Review - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Gamecube)

The Legend of Zelda series is definitely one of the most iconic in the video game world.  Twilight Princess, the 13th game to be released in the series, originally came out in 2006, and there were two versions of the game - one for Gamecube and one for Wii.  I have not played the Wii version, so I am reviewing my experience playing the Gamecube one, the last 3D Zelda game that features a left-handed Link.

This game is beautiful in every way.  Even my brother's gripes about Midna didn't bother me.  The story is gripping, the characters and scenery exquisitely detailed, and the music varied and interesting.  There were complaints that this game's soundtrack was not orchestrated, but I still think they did a fine job with it.  The only complaint I had was that I thought the ending felt a bit rushed - otherwise, this is an excellent game that owes its success to Ocarina of Time (there are so many references to it in here!).

5/5 from me.  This is only the third Zelda game I have played and beaten, and I look forward to more in the future.  (The other two are Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.) 

A Brief Review - Pokemon X (3DS)

The Pokemon series of games is one that you can keep playing long after you reach endgame - there is always a ton of stuff to do.  So while I am not quite finished playing the game (watch out full pokedex, here I come!), I'm going to give a brief review since technically I have beaten the main part of the game.

Long story short - this game is EXCELLENT.  It is just about everything a Pokemon fan would want in a game, and is a great introduction to newcomers just getting into the series.  The new customization feature has been a long time in coming, and while there are fewer options than I would like, it's a great start to making your Pokemon trainer your own.  The wifi capabilities of the 3DS are really taken advantage of with the new Player Search System, and they make trading and battling so much more accessible.  The sheer variety of the Pokemon available from the start of the game make the pacing completely different than previous games, and the graphics are such a step up it makes playing Black/White give you a bit of culture shock.  While I cannot include any screenshots in this review, I can give you my final Elite Four team:

That being said, I do have some complaints.  I was not affected by the game breaking glitch that was included in the original release, but I do think it's quite amazing that Nintendo was able to release a patch to fix it and it just.... applies itself to your copy of the game.  I do not like the fact that you cannot control the camera angle as you travel.  It can make some areas extra confusing, especially the big metropolis Lumiose City.  And my other complaint is that you cannot transfer Pokemon from any previous games into X/Y... yet.  Next month, Pokemon Bank will be released along with the Transporter, so that gripe may get erased.

The music is pretty great, and I am looking forward to getting the soundtrack in the near future.  It's on iTunes for $10!  What a steal! 

Overall, this game gets a 5/5 from me.  I'm still playing it. 

A Brief Review - Final Fantasy IX (PS)

I had not thought it possible, but Final Fantasy IX has become my favorite Final Fantasy game.  X had that spot for as long as I've been playing games in the series, but IX topped it, and it is easy to see why.  

Presentation:  This game is beautiful.  It was one of the last games released for the PlayStation, and it really pushes the hardware to its limits.  From the moment you begin the game, the visuals blow you away.  Speaking of which, this game has one of the best openings I have ever seen.  The movies alternate with gameplay graphics, and the transitions are seamless.  Even after the prologue, when you enter a new area, it is introduced with its name in different scripts.  This adds to the characterization of each part of the world.  

Characters and Story:  I'm going to spend more time on the characters here because while the story is great, the characters really sell it.  Zidane makes a fantastic lead, cocky but willing to take advice.  Dagger goes through major character growth.  Vivi rocks the entire game.  Steiner makes me laugh, but he worms his way into your heart too. I think the only character that doesn't quite measure up to the others is Amarant.

Gameplay:  On the whole, quite excellent.  The battle system hasn't changed a whole lot from previous games, but timing seems to be much harder in this game due to not being able to tell the order of who goes after a particular character (enemy-wise).  It changes your strategy, and can be downright annoying, but adds another dimension of difficulty to the game.  The only complaints I have are that there aren't very many side quests, and your party is split up for at least 3/4ths of the game.  However, unlike FFIV, your party stays pretty balanced throughout.

Music:  This game has one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard.  Nobuo Uematsu really outdid himself here, and this was the last FF game he really composed for.  Sometimes the music reminds me of early organ music, but then you have tracks for places like Treno, which sound suspiciously like ragtime.  Then there are two main themes that keep changing in instrumentation and style throughout the game depending on where you are.  Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the evil themes!  The music when you enter the Iifa Tree is particularly creepy:

This game definitely deserves a 5/5 rating.  Go play it!

A Brief Review - Riviera: The Promised Land (PSP)

I first played Riviera when it came out on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.  Although I didn't finish the game in that playthrough, I remember being impressed with the characters, plot, and gameplay (especially this last category - it really pushed the GBA to its limits!).  So when my brother got me the PSP port for Christmas one year, I was understandably excited.

From what I understand, not much has changed in the PSP version - the sprites and graphics are basically the same, just a bit clearer on the PSP due to the backlit screen.  There is added art in a number of scenes, but the biggest change comes in the form of voice acting for the characters.  In the American localization, you can even choose whether you want the characters to speak in English or Japanese!  Rose, the talking cat, was especially hilarious in Japanese.  

The music also gets a bit of an overhaul, updating the instrumentation to be more suitable for the PSP.  Each track creates its own ambience, and the final battle music is one of the best I've heard.  The normal battle music can get annoying after a while (especially during training...), but the soundtrack suits the game very well.  

Overall, even though the port doesn't do much to enhance the original game, I would still give this a 4/5 rating.  The GBA version is harder to find nowadays, so one might as well go for the PSP port. 

A Brief Review - Final Fantasy IV (DS)

Final Fantasy IV is one of the most beloved games in the Final Fantasy (FF) series, and it is easy to understand why.  The remake for the Nintendo DS is the only incarnation I have played, but it was quite an enjoyable experience.  

The premise seems simple - save the world from the forces of evil - but there are enough twists and turns to keep you on your toes.  There are eleven playable characters that, admittedly, keep switching out for various reasons, but the core characters remain the same.  Sometimes this can be annoying, like when you have one physical attacker and three mages (or vice versa), but the game makes it work.  

The gameplay mechanics are very similar to other FF games, utilizing the Active Time Battle System, which you can see in the screenshot above.  Due to the dual screens on the DS, the menu and stats are on the bottom screen, which means you can take advantage of the touch options to choose your battle actions.  The touch screen can also be used to dictate your movements outside of battle, but I found that the control pad was easier.  

The music in FFIV is really quite good.  My favorite themes were definitely the Lunar Moon theme (very alien) and the Theme of Love.  The latter is one of the most well known FF themes and lives up to its name: 

I personally found that the game didn't get really good until the latter half, but I was also annoyed with the parts where I had a lopsided team so that could have had something to do with it.  The final showdown is definitely in my top 10 in terms of epicness.  The music, while not the best in the series in terms of overall soundtrack, still had some nice themes and added to the experience in a positive way.  I give this game a 4/5, and highly recommend checking it out.

Favorite Video Game Music - For Victory (Fire Emblem 9: Path of Radiance)

I am a huge fan of the Fire Emblem series (if you haven't played one of these games, go check them out!).  They are excellent tactics games with great characters, stories, and music.  This particular track is from the 9th installment in the series, Path of Radiance, for the Nintendo Gamecube.  I like it because it's one of the more melodic tracks and is kind of catchy.  It plays when you are in your base before going on missions in each chapter.  You can buy, sell, and forge weapons, as well as equip your team and build up relations between your troops.  Overall, a very nice theme.

The Beginning of an Adventure

I thought this would be a fitting first post - the title screen and music from one of my absolute favorite games.