RENT

The game starts with L’Arc, a mercenary, locked in battle with a dragon.  The game has an immediate feel of Final Fantasy, no matter how you slice it, from the music, the colors, the flying buccaneer style boat ships, to how the game plays.  None of those things are bad, instead it sort of puts you in a state of familiarity.  This is stuff anyone that’s played a traditional RPG is probably familiar with.  The Wii does have a graphics limitation, but the game looks reminiscent of a nicer previous console generation games.  The story video is rich and very Japanimation looking though I don’t think it’s as cool as Lunar (Then again, nothing has been as cool as the animation for Lunar in a long time), but it is very pretty.  The shorter in-game videos use animation from the in-game graphics.  Nothing to brag about, but it gets the point across and moves the story along.

Speaking of the story: L’Arc falls from the sky with the dragon and right before the dragon decides to explode (or felburst in the game), Rufia, another charater comes out of the forest and sings to the dragon.  Instead of felbursting, the dragon disappears and Rufia saves L’Arc from what would have seemed to be a certain death. In the game the dragons are call Feldragons.  I wonder if this “fel” part is like smurf.  You’ll have a smurfing time.

A thing I just have to mention is that the voice acting in Arc Rise Fantasia is painful.  To be fair, I am one of those types of people that doesn’t mind if a game takes longer to release, if I get the original voice work with English subtitles.  I was so happy that Naruto had a choice to change to Japanese w/ subtitles instead of having to deal with “BELIEVE IT!”  Sadly, Arc Rise Fantasia does not have the choice to change and thus you get English actors with lengthy translations and bizarre interactions.   The voice acting lacked the ‘acting’ part and it seems as though they sat all the voice actors in a room and just had them read the lines. No passion, no intonations, it was just someone reading the script like a book.  I have heard more emotion from someone ordering #15 with chicken at a Chinese restaurant than most of the lines in this game.

Arc Rise Fantasia also uses a combination of storytelling methods.  It goes from movie, to in-game video, to a DS style with a photo of the character talking while text plays on the bottom but it also reads it to you, so you have the voice “acting” all the time.  The pictures of the characters change as the script calls for it. So if L’Arc is confused and Rifia is sad, it shows how they feel; sometimes with comedic results as they stay longer than they should on certain expressions.

The names of places, monsters and such are still true to the RPG lore, but when they got to the people in town, or people you must talk to who are not part of the main cast, they turned to literal translations. So you need to talk to a soldier outside the gate. The name of the soldier is “Alert Watchman,” the one on his left is talking to a kid; when you go talk to that one instead, the name is “Chatty Watchman.”  As you can see, there is no random name created here, but instead their names are the exact situation that they are in, or their location and/or their purpose.

As the game progresses, you travel with Rifia to the nearest town.  In this trip, the game teaches you how to attack.  It’s the same system as many RPGs where you see an enemy, the screen cracks, and you go to a battle mode.  It’s turned-based, so you can individually tell each character in your party to attack, or heal, or use items, etc.  Another way of playing is using Tactics: a method that allows you to preset a chain of commands.  I actually enjoyed the Tactics mode especially at the beginning, however, the choices are limiting as you can only pre-program 3 plans. On the other hand, when you just want to grind and level your characters up, it can be handy.

Here, I should mention that another thing I like about Arc Rise Fantasia is the ability to use your classic Wii controller, it was much more comfortable.  It automatically recognizes it if you start with the controller connected, or can be switched mid-game in the menu.

Back to our story: The next member the party that you meet is Alf; not as in “Alien Life Form” but short for Alfonso.  You meet with Alf at the “Eloquent Cat Inn.”  The interaction between Alf and L’Arc is bizarre and I do not know if it was caused by the poor voice acting, but you get this feeling than L’Arc and Alf are more than just friends.  More hilarity ensues caused by this, as Rifia is pretty oblivious to pretty much everything.  The story continues, taking you on a journey into L’Arc and Alf’s world, which is slightly different than where Rifia comes from. You’ll find out that L’Arc is more than just a mercenary, but a special guy that will be able to bring peace between the two kingdoms with the help of Rifia, his magical friend,  and a cast of quirky, crazy and special characters to help him through his journey.

If you love RPG’s, this game might be a step back.  If you play RPG’s in a casual way, or are nostalgic for a more simple yet fun RPGs that doesn’t require 7 hours just to make up a character, this might be something you’d like to pick up.   If nothing else, the game comes with a “hair manual” to help you with all your cosplay needs at your next convention.  Arc Rise Fantasy lacks luster and complexity, but it’s a game that I would give to someone not used to RPGs or a new gamer starting their journey through the world of RPGs.

A review copy of this game was provided by the publisher and did not affect the outcome of this review.

Rating: E 10+
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Level 5 & Square Enix
Release Date (US): July 11th, 2010

BUY

After it’s hugely successful release in Japan over a year ago, Dragon Quest IX was finally brought stateside this summer. Being completely new to the series, I was very excited to give the game a try. And I was not disappointed–quite the opposite, in fact. Dragon Quest IX, although a bit of a departure from older titles in the series, is easily one of the best RPGs I’ve played on the DS. It’s classic combat system, simple yet engrossing story and nicely cell shaded visuals (3D renders based on the series’ signature Akira Toriyama drawing style, most notable in Chrono Trigger) really captivated me, especially with how well it functions on the dual screen hand held.

As mentioned above, Dragon Quest IX has revamped and adjusted several elements from it’s older games for this installment. Abandoning the fixed first person camera view of your enemies from Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, the camera now shows your party as well, and rotates around the battlefield during combat, showing whoever’s turn it is when you give them an action. Also new to the series, is the game’s multiplayer. While we have a much more limited version of this than the Japanese version, (which is basically a full blown MMO on a handheld, and I really do wish we had this feature as well) the Wifi linkup with any friends nearby is still pretty fun, provided you know others who own the game as well. This isn’t necessary to enjoy Dragon Quest IX however, as I found purely playing offline to be extremely fun, especially if you’re a fan of traditional dungeon-crawling RPGs.

Dragon Quest IX opens with your created character, the newly appointed Guardian of Angel Falls (replacing your mentor, Aquila) and apprentice Celestrian (think Guardian Angel) of the Observatory. By guiding and protecting the mortal inhabitants of your appointed city, Angel Falls (the mortal realm is called the Protectorate) you earn “Benevolessence” which is used to nourish the world tree, Yggdrasil. After your character earns enough Benevolessence for Yggdrasil to produce fyggs, the Celestrians of the Observatory then celebrate with the appearance of the Starflight Express, (a magical train run by faeries–I’m not kidding) to finally move on to god’s realm. Something goes awry however, and the Observatory is attacked by a mysterious force. Your character is knocked down below to the Protectorate along with the seven fyggs Yggdrasil produced, and the Starflight Express. When you awaken in the waterfall of Angel Falls, your wings and halo have mysteriously vanished, and your hero is now seemingly a mortal. Your adventure begins as you attempt to use what little remnants of the power you have left to find out what what happened exactly at the Observatory, and more importantly, why these events have taken place.

You can fully customize your hero’s appearance, with categories ranging from body type, facial features, hair and skin-tone and appropriate color choices for each one. I gave my Celestrian, Vespaa, a flowing, wavy pink ponytail with deep blue eyes and pale skin. Your character starts out as a Minstrel (which can do a little bit of everything) but can change to one of the six starting vocations available by default shortly into the story. Later on, there are an additional six unlockable vocations available through quests, equating twelve jobs in total. Every job retains it’s own individual level and you can freely switch between them from an NPC without penalty. Your party members are entirely created by you, and you can select what job they are as well. Every aspect your created party is your choice, including names and appearances. You create them in the same manner you create your hero, and can have up to a party of four, with another four characters in reserve. I would definitely suggest taking advantage of this, because although it’s possible to beat the game with only your character, it would be extremely challenging. This option becomes available to you when you reach Stornway, the location of most focal points of the game, including how to initiate mutliplayer.

The combat in Dragon Quest as mentioned, above is turn based with the camera changing perspective to show your characters during actions you’ve taken. I was really glad they made this change from previous installments, because a completely fixed first person view of enemies would have made the combat grow stale pretty quickly for me, personally. Another aspect of the combat system that I really appreciated is it’s highly intuitive encounter system. Enemies spawn randomly throughout the open world and dungeons, and will aggro you, or you can choose to engage them, depending on the type of enemy and level. The fact that they spawn randomly around you, but you’re not forced into random encounters and can avoid them most of the time, gives you a sense of freedom in what you wish to fight, without having to leave the area to reset enemies. As you level up, you gain skill points for each individual vocation you level. Every vocation has a set of skills, four of which are weapon types, and one specialized set of skills for that job. You get skill points at set level intervals and can allocate them to wherever you wish. They also carry over between jobs, so if you level Minstrel and Warrior, which can both use a sword, any skill points you put toward sword will be shared between the two jobs. It encourages players to level vocations on each character that compliment each other. (Like Mage and Priest, and so on.)

Dragon Quest IX has a ridiculous wealth of content rarely seen in RPGs this generation anymore, especially on the DS. Level-5 really went above and beyond with insuring players would have the rewarding feeling and sense of accomplishment you derive from a game of this genre. The best way to describe the experience is that you’re basically playing an MMORPG on a handheld. Every piece of equipment and weapon you find has a unique appearance to it (and there are thousands.) The variety of armor is extremely vast; you can don an awesome suit of armor or wear more comedic things like bunny ears or a pair of boxers. The gear only has vocation requirements, NOT level, so you can look however you wish at any level. Every thing you find will have it’s own unique graphic. This was definitely my favorite aspect of the game, and I couldn’t help but find myself collecting as much equipment as possible or simply buying vanity pieces of gear to keep my Celestrian and her team’s look ever changing. In addition to finding items, Dragon Quest IX has it’s own item creation system–the Alchenomicon. This allows players to combine items they find with components you can harvest from around the world to create new items, or upgrade existing ones.

As you advance through the game, your hero’s first real objective is to find and locate the seven fyggs that fell from Yggdrasil. You quickly discover that these heavenly and magical pieces of fruit are causing quite a bit of chaos for humans of the Protectorate. Your character travels from town to town (in an exploration style very similar to a super obscure, but old school favorite of mine, Sword of Vermilion) helping mortals that have fallen victim to the power of the fyggs, whilst recollecting them. The game also makes wonderful usage of the DS’ signature dual screens. When in combat, your command list is on the touch screen (so you have the option to play with the stylus) while the upper screen displays the action. During roaming, the lower screen shows your characters traversing the world (which you can also control with the stylus by drawing the path they’ll walk on as you go) while the upper is your map. Deeper into your adventure, your character will inherit a ship that allows you to freely explore the Protectorate and dock at tiny islands you wouldn’t normally be able to reach. (Think Chrono Cross.)

As mentioned earlier, Dragon Quest IX is basically an MMORPG on a handheld. And while we don’t have access to the full infrastructure mode of the Japanese version (which allowed players to connect from anywhere in the country) you can still link up through the Wifi and play with friends nearby who also own the game as well. Up to four players can form a party in the host player’s world, and help them through dungeons or with boss fights. You also retain any items or levels you obtain in the host player’s world. For those who have access to a Nintendo Wifi USB Connector, can update their game weekly with Nintendo’s support. Every Friday, you can add unique quests and access the special item shop to buy rare items, along with adding unique NPCs (some from previous Dragon Quest games) to your character’s Inn, that will give you unique armor under the right conditions. You can also leave your DS idling in Canvas mode, which will allow you to exchange treasure maps with other players who’s DS’ come into radius of your’s.

Even if you don’t have anyone to play the game with, the main storyline is still very enjoyable. While it employs a few RPG cliches, I found the story to be strangely engrossing the further I progressed. It’s presented in a very simple, light hearted manner, yet deals with issues we can all resonate with, like regret and the loss of loved ones. The game has a delightful sense of humor, also. There are many play-on-words, puns and parodies of pop culture. Such as a school for children wishing to learn magic, called Swinedimples, and finding weapons with names that don’t take themselves seriously (a pole called “Optimistick.”) Dragon Quest IX is far from over upon completing the game’s main story. A myriad of content, new dungeons and treasure maps become available, as well as special quests to gain certain story characters as party members.

Level-5′s RPG is easily one of the best I’ve played in a long while, especially on the DS. This is the kind of game that has so much content, you’ll be able to pick it up again months or even years from now and still have something to do. It’s simple and nostalgic interface and combat engine make it enjoyable to play while on the go as well. It has a solid yet approachable learning curve to make it very pick up and play even if you haven’t played it in awhile. The story isn’t convoluted to the point where you’ll lose track of what’s happening either; you can figure out where you left off at any time by pressing the Y button for a brief refresher. Dragon Quest IX is a must have for any RPG fan looking for a fun, yet old school, stream lined gaming experience. This would also serve as a wonderful introduction to newer fans of this genre as well.

Rating: M
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Piranha Bytes
Release Date: February 23, 2010

PASS

Let me start you off with a Risen anecdote to give you a feeling of what a player is up against: The first NPC you encounter (who isn’t a goblin), is a burly redheaded fellow. He says that you need to find a weapon and then return to show it to him. “Huzzah!” I thought, “I already have a weapon! I stole it off of a goblin not 5 minutes ago (and honestly I don’t know how I would’ve navigated through all of the monster-infested areas without it, the game must want me to have it)!” I equip it and show my ginger friend, to which he reacts with whipping out his own weapon and threatening me to put mine away. I comply, and then he tells me to go get a weapon. This game is all kinds of maddening like that.

Oh man, this is the guy! He is so rude.

The game also suffers from the same plague to have befallen many of its high-definition brethren: tiny text. My TV is a modest-sized HD model, and I had a very hard time reading my menu screens and text prompts. I don’t know who told companies that every gamer now owns a 60” LCD TV, but I would like to bust that myth once and for all. The tiny text made looting and marauding a holy pain, because I was actually interested in what I was picking up and what its purpose was. Though, I shouldn’t blame the text entirely, because the combat system made me feel like I was a juiced-up juggernaut trying to thread a needle. If your game is only going to allow for one type of attack, make sure it can handle more than one boar, in an open field, under ideal conditions, and the boar is kind of sick and at half health already.

There is plenty I could say about my Risen, eh… “experience”. Only after playing it did I find out that the game was actually a port of a much-loved PC game, which definitely makes a whole lot of sense. On the Xbox 360, Risen never really feels like it belongs on a console. It doesn’t live up to the RPG standards set by Morrowind and others, and its controls absolutely do not lend themselves to controller play (good luck changing them in Options because you can’t!). Risen actually makes me feel bad for both RPGs and PC games, because gamers like myself who don’t like either category would purchase this game and swear off both forever. Though Risen on the Xbox is a noble effort (maybe?), I’m going to have to advise that you pass on the 360 version and opt for it on PC.

And what we saw of Alpha Protocol seemed to fit that bill.  You play as Michael Thornton a spy part of an organization known as Alpha Protocol.  Typical to what we’re used to with Dragon Age or Mass Effect and to a different extent, Heavy Rain; your choices in the game will effect the storyline.  Now, more similar to Heavy Rain than the two Bioware games I mentioned is the main character.  In Alpha Protocol, the Obsidian design team made a very conscious decision to single out a main character for you, versus giving you the option to pick one yourself.  By doing so, you as the player get a more thorough play experience as Michael.  Indeed, part of our preview included a cut scene from the game shown twice: both extremely different from one another as there had been far different choices made in the game leading to that scene.

An interesting addition to this sort of game play is the inclusion of timed dialogue choices; players have to be able to think quickly about the choices they want to make.  The games missions are based on the intrigue and danger of a spy life, and the choices made both in game play and dialogue options mean a richer and more varied play experience.  Now, the variety of choices available also mean that the type of spy you want ‘your’ Mike to be, go right down to the type of weapons and abilities he has.  You can focus on being a stealthy, silent striker, a guns-blazing loud cowboy type, a martial arts guru, or non-stereotypical spy combination.  This also means, if you choose, you can make your way through the game and it’s missions without killing a single soul.  Hard to do, and not necessarily spy-like (unless you’re Chuck), but possible.  And that choosing who lives or dies means that characters reactions to Mike, and the story may change as you go based on that decision.

Another interesting item about the timed dialogue options, and in fact, the entire dialogue options throughout the game is that they vary more than usual from our standard RPG fair.  Most of us are by now used to the dialogue trees common to most RPG games where if you don’t get the option you want in a conversation with a character, you can go back and cycle through the options differently to get the one your want.  Or, you can try and trigger different responses or options by continuing to go back and rehash old conversations.  In Alpha Protocol, this isn’t an option.  You make a decision for Mike to say something, and that’s it, it’s said and you’re on to the next topic.  This also means, much as we’ve seen with Heavy Rain or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, that it’s not about a specific dialogue option, instead Alpha Protocol has what they call the Dynamic Stance System (DSS) which means you’re not choosing a specific for Mike to say, but instead a ‘stance’ for him to take: Aggressive, Professional, Suave; though they may not be labeled as such in the game.

Now all that’s great, but what about the actual action? I’m so glad you asked.
We did get to see some action during the preview, but it wasn’t a hands-on so I can’t necessarily tell you HOW it played.  But from what we saw, combat moved pretty swiftly.  You will have the option of pausing to change weapons more suited to the moment, and there’s what looks like a pretty quick system of using the special attacks that Michael has based on the abilities you’ve chosen for him.  We watched some stealth abilities in action, which looked like they might be easier for game designers used to playing the same scene over and over at demos, but maybe would be tricky for players right out of the box.  That’s not to say they’re not neat, but that there might be a level of comfortability involved in pulling them off like we saw.  But, without a hands-on it’ll be hard to say more. I did like some of the stealth options though, especially a sort of ‘locator sense’ which many of us are familiar with from other games, but might not necessarily be something you expect from a more realistic RPG.

Alpha Protocol, after previous delays, is looking to hit the shelves this June for both the Xbox 360 and the PC.  And, I’ll say it’s looking pretty darned good.  I know they showed me enough to at least get me willing to give it a go when it comes out.

This review may contain spoilers for the game’s storyline. I’m keeping them at a minimum if I can, but fair warning.

Rating: M (for Mature)
Genre: Fantasy RPG
Players: 1
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: March 16th, 2010

BUY

Let me get this out of the way first: Yes, I’m going to be a bit negative in this review, as there’s A LOT of glitchy issues with the DA:O – Awakening expansion, and there’s a lot of things missing or awkward. BUT, this game still rocks, it is worth the price of admission if you loved the first game and are itching to get your fingers on more time with your Grey Warden. Even being the fan I am, I wouldn’t give it a Buy rating if it wasn’t worth it. Okay, with that out of my system, let’s talk about the game.

DA:O – Awakening is 10 – 15 hours (depending on your play style) of Grey Warden darkspawn smashing, dragon killing and quest solving. You begin the game as one of the many Grey Wardens that you may have played in the original game – whether you actually finished the game or not. Or, you can choose not to import any characters and make an Orlesian Grey Warden. Either way, you’re leveled up a bit and sent on your way to Vigil’s Keep to rally the remaining Grey Wardens, only to find out that the darkspawn have already ransacked the village and there’s hardly anyone left in the keep. You speak with the keep’s seneschal, Varel who helps you get settled in. Varel is a useful asset to Vigil’s Keep, making sure that while your Grey Warden is out fighting the darkspawn and righting wrongs, the Keep still runs smoothly.

Unfortunately, for our poor Grey Wardens, despite what may have happened at the top of the tower in Denerim a few months ago, as Warden Commander, you learn that the darkspawn are not retreating as they usually do after a Blight is ended. Instead they’re doing wacky things: like ransacking your shiny new keep, talking, thinking, and running rampant around in the surrounding areas. It’s your job (isn’t it always) to figure out what’s going on, why one of the surviving Grey Wardens is missing, and try and lay these things down once and for all. You get new allies, and one returning one – although others may make appearances – and a host of new areas you never got to see in the first game.

So, overall, I loved the continuation of the story. And while I would’ve rather seen more of my old friends join up with me, Oghren (through he doesn’t seem more positively disposed towards you despite your previous friendship) makes a fun returning ally, and I think he may have gotten better lines this time around. I have several complaints about this game (I’m getting there) and one of them is the lack of consistency with the previous game. Despite what may or may not have happened at the end of your original game, there isn’t a good continuity with the continuing plot line. For instance, if Alistair sacrificed himself to kill the Archdemon so the woman he loved didn’t have to, he might make an appearance in th game as the King (or not depending on your brand of glitch). He might not appear at all, as you would expect, but then he may get mentioned in the character’s epilogue at game end, where the two of you can wonder off into the sunset never to be seen again.

This sort of continuity glitch isn’t uncommon in the game. However, far more common are the regular scene glitches during conversations. You might be carrying on a mostly normal conversation with the Architect for instance (a possible ally or enemy) and during one scene the screen fades to black. It doesn’t kill your game, but you often have to hit the controls to get it to scroll ahead to the next frame so you can choose your appropriate response. You might also often find yourself having a conversation while you stare through your armor, or a wall, or pillar. Since the game conversation scenes aren’t necessarily representative of where you where standing before the scene started, this isn’t a player issue. These sort of polishing issues don’t make the game unplayable, and in my playthrough were far between and only minorly annoying.

The most annoying thing to me however was the lack of clear direction in many of the quests, both those that are conversation driven, and those that are based on exploration. To explain, I have to mention another lacking item in the game, which is the ability to talk to your allies. In the original, you always had the option of returning to camp between quests, talking to your allies and finding out more about them. In this expansion, you can still learn more about your allies, but mostly, only when you return to Vigil’s Keep, and only when they want you to. So, if I want to figure out why the apostate mage Anders named the kitten I gave him Ser Pounce-a-lot, I can’t trigger a conversation with him. He talks to you briefly, and then the rest is done in random conversation moments triggered outside the keep between party members. Or, (back to my original point) when Oghren’s personal quest is started, you have to talk to him in the Keep – and apparently, you have to try and trigger conversation with him while you’re standing right there. Because if you decide to leave the Keep, thinking the conversation is over, you don’t get the chance to go back and do it again. That’s just a quest lost to me in the sands of glitchy game play.

Also, if you happen across the Silverite Mine in the forest before you actually run into Valanna – which happens because you have to WALK RIGHT BY THE MINE to get to where she is, you will completely ruin any chance of doing her quest. So if you’re like me, and tend to run into mines because they’re right in front of you – don’t do it! I’ve heard, but did not experience it myself, that there’s also the possibility of some severe glitching with that quest if you try to do it without Velanna in your party. This is not the only time this can happen in the game – Blackmarsh is also especially bad about quests becoming obsolete if you trigger events.

This sort of bad design didn’t make my game unplayable, nor did it make the entire game unenjoyable for me, I’ve already said that it’s worth it. But it is slightly annoying to learn that you can completely block yourself from some pretty interesting quest completion because you triggered events because you came across them before you were supposed to – without actually knowing there was an order. For instance, if the mine hadn’t been explorable until I found Velanna, that would’ve been a far better design for that quest line, and avoided the funky quest issues.

The game does have it’s moments, I got a crack out of nearly all of the new allies: Nathaniel and Anders especially, though sometimes not intentionally. The story of Nathaniel Howe’s return is an interesting one, especially for fans of the game’s lore. Despite the number of new allies, there are no romance options, and as has been mentioned already, it’s difficult to actually talk to your allies unless they want to (and only one at a time). The expansion of the storyline from the first game is definitely a fine successor and has already made me eager for whatever is coming in February next year. There really is a bunch of content in this expansion, and as I mention can net between 10 and 15 hours of extra game play on one playthrough. Plus, there’s a new crafting category – Runecraft – which Anders comes stocked with, but anyone can learn it. And there’s new class types and abilities for your characters which gives you a bigger expansion of options if you’re that type of player. That’s not too mention all the times you’re going to want to go back with all your other DA:O characters, or even try out the new Orlesian Grey Warden just to see the possibilities you missed (which is what I plan on doing next).

Rating: T for Teen
Players: 1
Genre: JRPG
System: PS3
Publisher: SquareEnix
Release Date: March 9, 2010
Final Fantasy XIII

BUY

While I really enjoyed XIII and found it to be a remarkable game in many aspects, and I still consider it a front runner of quality RPGs this generation, there are still some facets of it that I felt could have been better or more developed than they were. Especially considering the length of time it took to create the game, while I appreciate some innovation I felt it also should have retained at least slightly more of the original formula that made the franchise such a success in the first place.

Final Fantasy XIII opens with our protagonist (and by far one of my favorites in the series to date) Lightning, aboard a Purge train transporting anyone who may be a L’Cie out of the town’s major city, Cocoon to the dangerous wilds of Pulse. I greatly enjoyed the game’s story, but it feels a bit rushed in the beginning as many new concepts and story elements are thrown your way very quickly. Some things are introduced in such quick succession, it becomes hard to keep track of at the very beginning until the story softens it’s pacing a bit. Cocoon is the game’s major modern city, and save haven which floats high in the sky above the less “civilized” world of Pulse. The citizens of Cocoon live in fear of Pulse, and under the possible threat of invasion. Centuries before the game takes place, Cocoon and Pulse were at war with each other, due to the will of god like entities known as Fal’Cie. Fal’Cie mark humans to help them achieve their goals, branding them as L’Cie, and giving them a focus they are forced to fulfill. Failing to fulfill this focus will transform them into a monster–or rather, a Cieth. When Lightning and the others arrive at the Pulse Vestige for various reasons between them like rescuing Serah [Lightning's sister and Snow's fiance], they are branded L’Cie by the Fal’Cie Anima. They are given a brief inkling of the focus they’re expected to fulfill. Their journey begins, and they work together hoping to understand their focus, and to decide for themselves– to follow their own path or to follow the orders of the Fal’Cie.

XIII is simply put, an incredibly rendered game. It displays in full 1080p and easily one of the top games that made me really appreciate my 37″ HD 1080p Vizio TV. The frame rates and textures are consistently amazing, and the FMVs are some of the most beautiful I’ve seen in any game to date. Square Enix definitely wanted to push Blu-Ray to it’s limits, and it really shows. So many of the game’s environments are some of my favorites across any Final Fantasy game ever, including the frozen Lake Bresha, the Sunleth Waterscape, the Village of Oerba, which is covered in crystal dust, the Archlyte Steppe which is the most verdant and lively area in the game, and Suyyla Springs, which is reminiscent of FFVII’s Forgotten City.

The game’s combat system revolves around the new Paradigm system, and Paradigm shifting. During combat, you have a deck of up to six sets of Paradigms, each containing various roles for each of your characters. They also function similarly to how Gambits did in FF12, by dictating how the AI will behave depending on what role a character is in that Paradigm. You can customize your own Paradigms yourself, putting any character to any role, and can shift them at any time during combat when the situation calls for it. Each character starts out with three out of six of the game’s primary roles, and can unlock the others later on. Most battles will flow with the shifting of offensive, defensive and support based Paradigms, or a combination of all, depending on what’s the best approach for the kind enemies you’re fighting. The primary form of “leveling” in FF13 is the Crystarium. It’s extremely similar to FF10′s Sphere Grid, and functions the same way for each character’s growth. After every fight, you earn CP, which can be spent in the Crystarium toward stats or abilities. Each character has their own unique Crystarium for each of their roles.

A completely new addition to combat in FF13 is the Stagger Meter. The battles revolve entirely around the ATB gauge, with MP management and turn based elements of combat being done away with entirely. Every enemy has a Stagger Meter, and you build it up by chaining abilities in quick succession on enemies. When the Stagger Meter fills up entirely, and the threshold is broken, the enemy is staggered, revealing new weakness’ and will be far more easy to defeat. Combat is very fast paced, and shifting to the correct Paradigms at crucial battle phases are the key to victory in this game. Like in FF12, random encounters are gone too, and it’s also very important to try to sneak up on enemies for a Preemptive Strike to defeat them quickly whenever possible. Battle animations are beautiful in this game, with combat being satisfying not only to view but to partake in. Any combination of commands via the ATB will flow together very fluidly. The spell animations are also highly detailed, and casting a water spell will leave a watery residue along the floor even after the spell is finished. Lightning’s special, “Army of One” is also one of my favorite RPG attacks from any Final Fantasy to date, and describing it here wouldn’t properly do it justice.

The atmosphere the game immerses you in is truly ethereal and on par with any other Final Fantasy title in the series, if not better. The music also supports this really well, and FFXIII’s sound track has quickly become one of my favorite’s in the series as well. The cast really grows on you, and while it seems like a lot of people were raising complaints about the majority of them, I found by the end of the game they were all developed decently well, and their individual stories really draw you in. I can’t really find any reasons to consider Hope, Snow or Vanille annoying when I enjoyed them all far more than various other characters in the series, like Wakka from FF10, Gau from FF6, or any newly introduced characters in X-2. Many people raised complaints about the linearity of the story and the flow of the game in general as well, and although I always love it when any game gives me a very open ended sense of freedom, I still enjoyed the parts of XIII before players can travel around the world freely.

My major issues with the game are mainly that they could have done so much more with it. They could have added more side quests and optional content. They could have embellished the areas you explore and fleshed out the characters a bit better. While many fans of the series are tired of cuts scenes and flashbacks ad nauseum, I personally enjoy them, and it makes me feel like the developer’s actually care about the characters and worlds they’re immersing you in. I would have like to have known more about Lightning’s past, and what REALLY drove her to change her name, as well as more about what life was like in Oerba centuries ago when Vanille and Fang lived there. While there are some flash backs that show specific instances of what was going on in the days leading up to your group being branded as L’Cie,I would have enjoyed more personalized ones, also. In FFVI, were shown a touching scene in Lock’s past with the woman he loved, Rachel; I would have appreciated a scene like this for Sazh and his deceased wife, or perhaps a younger Lightning and Serah growing up together. I would have enjoyed Snow and Team NORA more as well, if we had seen a bit more of their history together as orphans, perhaps similar to the cut scenes presented to us in FFVIII. These are things I sorely missed personally, and would have rounded out the characters more nicely for me.

After falling through the Pulse Vestige and into Lake Bresha, where your party first discovers that they’ve become L’Cie, they quickly come under attack by the Sanctum [Cocoon's Holy Government] who will relentlessly pursue them for the remainder of the game. As your group tries to evade the Sanctum, tension builds between them as they waiver in their ideals and try to decipher what their focus is, while considering whether they should even fulfill it. When part of your group finds their way to Nautilus, I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed by the lack of mini games. (Something FF12 also suffered from.) Nautilus seemed like the perfect spot to introduce something like FFVII’s Gold Saucer, a fan favorite. The beginning of the game is stream lined as your party is on the run, but the further you progress into the game, the more it begins to feel like a traditional Final Fantasy title, including meeting the game’s Cid, and eventually being able to move freely and go Chocobo digging. (I would have also appreciated some Moogles, Square.)

With all this in mind though, I still really adore the game. I don’t mind some deviation from the traditional JRPG standard, and while I found myself praising a lot of newer elements of the game, I also missed some of the older more traditional ones the game is lacking, as well. Like the Summons for example, while I enjoy the transforming Eidolons, traditional summons would have still been enjoyable as well. Final Fantasy really earns it’s “BUY” from me by the end of the game, where you have access to over 64 different side missions, primarily when your party arrives on Gran Pulse and will help L’Cie who failed to fulfill their focus during their life time complete them. Overall, Final Fantasy 13 is a wonderful game despite a few flaws, in addition to the series and on it’s own as well. Contrary wise to what others feel, I feel this game does more than hold it’s own against other titles in the series, especially with it’s awesome protagonist (the female protagonist we’ve all wanted and hoped for, for a VERY long time.) Yet for all the time it took to develop this game, it still has some room for improvement. I would definitely recommend it for veterans of the series like myself, along with newer gamers, and I promise that if you can get past some rushed story elements in the beginning of the game, you’ll find the experience very rewarding the further you progress.

Aussies who’ve been wondering when the game Torchlight will grace our shores – wonder no more!

Come April, the folks at Mindscape are excited to make Torchlight available to purchase from your local retailer and apparently it has new exclusive features that aren’t in the online version. Some of those features will include the ferret as a bonus pet and an optional full DVD editor which lets you create your own content, while the key features include randomisation, simple interface and retirement system.

In the RPG (brought to us by the designers and leads of Diablo® and others) you need to save the town of Torchlight, embarking on a perilous journey through many dangerous locations to cleanse the mines. Choose from 1 of 3 Character Classes to battle your way through dungeons and against monsters while searching for fame and fortune.

Winner of quite a few awards including “Best Debut Game” Award at the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards, Torchlight will be available from all major retailers and computer software outlets from in April 2010 and will cost $29.95AUD.

If you’d like more info on Torchlight, you can find it at www.mindscape.com.au. You can also read an interview by GamingAngel with the games developers, Runic Games!

Rating: T for Teen
Players: 1
Genre: JRPG
System: Xbox 360
Publisher: SquareEnix
Release Date: March 9, 2010

RENT/BUY

Anyone who knows me knows that I am completely obsessed with the Final Fantasy games. Even though X-2 and XII aren’t on the top of my list of favorites (a spot held by IX), I still enjoyed playing through them. So, of course, when I went to pick up this game, I had very high hopes and, admittedly, high expectations. Almost instantly, I’m captivated with the opening cutscenes and find myself squeaking and crying out “Chocobo!” when I get the first glimpse of Sazh’s baby chocobo that lives in his hair.

One thing I both liked and disliked were the characters. The cast spanned a wide spectrum, featuring one of the few black characters, Sazh, in the series’ history, and many personality types not normally focused on. We have the bubbly, compassionate young woman Vanille, then the sullen and sometimes whiny Hope. Snow, who wants to save the world and his fiancee while being everyone’s best friend, is always at ends with Lighting, the headstrong, independent older sister of his fiancee. Then Fang, the mysterious woman you don’t meet until mid- to late-game, rounds out the party. While these characters provide some interesting and entertaining dialogue, after a while you kind of want to slap Hope for whining and wish that Vanille would tone down the bubbly, peppiness.

The story is my favorite part of the whole thing, as it should be. I’ll admit, SquareEnix can rarely do anything wrong in a game in my mind, and they never let me down in terms of story. From the beginning, I was captivated and wanted to work through the grinding and the issues I had with it. Though I knew a little about the history and story before I first loaded up the game, it still surprised me at some of the scenes I had already known about. There’s so much stuff they don’t explain through dialogue, but that’s where the datalog comes into play!

The datalog is the in-game encyclopedia of all the history including information about the l’Cie, fal’Cie, NORA, and other groups/places/etc. There is also a bestiary, a collection of the tutorials, menu explanations, and a story recap that goes chapter-by-chapter. It’s a big help if you want to read up on things that are confusing or that you’re curious about, though if you’re not, it takes a bit of time to clear out everything so the annoying “new information” square doesn’t appear or blink anymore.

I was happy to see the ‘optimize’ option appear in the Equipment menu again. Those are some elements from Final Fantasy 9 and a couple earlier games that make things so much easier. Optimize allows you three choices, basically balanced, attack, and defense, and the game will automatically equip the selected character with the best gear to fit those roles. It helps when you have a lot of gear and can’t quite decide what you want to use… or if you’re just lazy and don’t want to deal with it yourself.

My big complaint about the game is the combat system. Gasp, I know. A lot of people were raving about the combat before the game’s release, calling it creative among other things. It’s not a bad system, by any means, and using it is no more difficult than playing bingo games if you’re an FF newbie, or any of the recent systems in the last few iterations of the franchise. It’s a good system when it comes to being an Active Time system. What really irritates me is that in the beginning you can’t move or block. It’s fun to be able to string attacks together, even if it’s two basic attacks or one special ability, like Lightning’s “Blitz” ability.

Fortunately enough, later on in the game (around the start of Chapter 3) a storyline event allows you the use of magic and more abilities. It also introduces the paradigm element as well as the Crystarium system. As you find out from the very first battle, you can only control your party leader, who is either Lightning, Snow, or Vanille for the first few chapters. The game ends when your party leader dies, so you have to be very careful to not let that character die.

The paradigm system comes into play about this point of the game. It allows you to use a “Paradigm Shift” midcombat to change your party members’ roles in combat. You can turn Vanille from a Ravager who focuses on dealing damage and building up chains, to a Medic that will constantly heal and revive your party. Snow can become a Commando which is essentially the one who designates targets and hits heavy. There’s a few other classes, and each of them are a big help in specific combat situations. You can use default paradigms or customize your own from the main menu. If you press X while highlighting a set, you can change it to your active paradigm that you will start all combat with.

You will also notice that you don’t level up like you have in previous Final Fantasy games. You get CP or Crystarium Points. Some of you may remember the spheregrid from FFX. This is similar, but in my opinion, better. It’s the same principle. You earn CP in battles then spend it to increase stats and learn new abilities. What’s different is instead of having one giant grid where all characters can eventually cross over into other characters spheres, each character has a crystarium tree for each paradigm role they can fulfill. Vanille, for example, has a Ravager tree and a Medic tree. Lighting, likewise, has a Commando and Ravager tree. Some characters have three different roles, like Hope’s Ravager, Medic, and Synergist, that they can act as, and therefore get three branches.

New Crystarium branches appear after key boss fights, so you don’t always have a constant supply of abilities to work toward. Some characters will also learn new classes as you get further in the game. The joys of not always having abilities in whatever tree you want to specialize in is that any stat-boosting skill you learn in any tree is still applied. So if you have some HP boosting or stat pumping talents in, say, the Ravager tree and you’re focusing as a Medic, you can still get them and have them applied to the character.

In combat, you have a ranking system which consists of 0 to 5 stars after each battle. The more stars you get, the better chance for better loot and SP you have. It gets frustrating when you 5-star everything until one random battle. Not that it really matters how often you 5-star in the long run, except on the Cei’th Stone missions and the final battle, but it’s still a pride issue with some of us more… hardcore completionist JRPG players.

Another issue I had was the grinding. Yes, it’s true that you have to do a lot of combat to get SP so you can fill out your skill trees, and it is time consuming, but for fans of this game and the series itself, it’s nothing new. Sure, it’s tiring. I’ll admit that I can’t stand it. It’s not so much a downside for those that don’t mind combat, but for people like me, it gets tiring because it keeps us from the plot and pretty, pretty cutscenes.

Despite the complains about PS3 owners losing content from the Japanese version because of the translation of the game to the Xbox 360 due to rumors of not wanting a 4th disc, I was happy with the 3 discs. It reminded me of the earlier playstation 1 games where you would get the “please insert disc 2″ screen at the end of each. There’s a moment of happiness and accomplishment when you get to change discs for the first time. Maybe that’s just me though.

I haven’t made my way through the entirety of this 3-disc epic mainly because of doing some grinding and limited time because of school and other things, but in the end, I definitely recommend this game as a buy for any Final Fantasy fan as it is a wonderful addition to the series. JRPG fans as well will probably love this game. If you’re new to the RPG genre or you don’t like the idea of long periods of grinding, I’d suggest renting it first and see if it is something that you’re into before dropping the $60 on it.

If you’ve seen me online lately, I’ve probably been too busy playing Bioshock 2′s multiplayer to notice any other games (I wish this was an exaggeration). Really, you should try it – it’s a satisfying gaming experience. Fortunately, I was able to unglue myself from the screen long enough to notice that I had been given the opportunity to play a new game from Bioshock 2′s Lead Programmer, Jesse Attard (you may remember his name from the Bioshock 2 developer conference call I sat in on before the release). Turns out, Jesse has taken his talent and experience and started his own company, Tactic Studios. Their new game is called Immortal Empire, a foray into the brower-based RPG world. Check out my interview with Jesse below, and then go to his site and download Immortal Empire.

Q: What was the decision behind going from something like the Bioshock 2 multiplayer to Immortal Empire?

A: Immortal Empire was something I started developing before I began working on Bioshock 2. It was developed in my spare time really just as a hobby because I love making games. Working on a major project like Bioshock was an awesome experience and there was an excellent level of camaraderie among the team.  It has a unique and fascinating universe that was lots of fun to explore – but it’s a universe someone else created. Immortal Empire was an opportunity to bring something I imagined to life, and seeing it materialize is a very special and different feeling.

The class designs are amazing, and it was really hard deciding which character I wanted to go with.

Q: Is “browser-based multiplayer RPG” a genre you’re personally interested in?

A: I love RPGs, being a huge fan of Diablo and Baldur’s Gate, with some obvious influences making their way into Immortal Empire. I knew I wanted to create something that had a storyline and party system like Baldur’s Gate, but was complemented by the multiplayer style and item structure found in Diablo.

The browser-based market was a good medium for the game.  The scope of browser-based games allowed me to make sure I could create a full-fledged world in that old school isometric style, without it feeling extremely dated.  I had no budget other than my own personal income and very little time because I was busily working away on Bioshock.  Web games seemed like a perfect avenue for a game such as this where I could make storyline and gameplay the focus, rather than the mindblowing graphics you see on modern consoles nowadays.

Q: What has the feedback been like for Immortal Empire?

A: It’s been very positive.  Customers tell me it gets more engaging the deeper you go, as you see more storyline and unlock more party members, the strategy becomes more evident and has greater depth.  It’s really exciting to hear comments like that, because it means they are enjoying the more complex and subjective parts of the game.  Those are the parts that I think are the hardest to get right, since everybody has their own opinions on what makes an interesting story or a fun game.

A lot of people tell us that they want more!  Which is good news because we’re planning an expansion in the near future that will explore a lot of the Polar and Volcanic realms, with new monsters, NPCs, quests, the whole bit.

Q: What is your personal background and how did you get to where you are now?

A: I’m a computer science graduate so my primary skill is programming.  That’s what I’ve focused my career around, but I love music, art, writing and game design as hobbies.  Before I started work on console games I was a manager at Capcom’s North American mobile games studio, making mobile versions of their classic games like Street Fighter 2 or Resident Evil.  That’s really where I felt I got to flex my creative skills because I was contributing pixel art, music, sound effects, programming, as well as designing the games.

This is how you correctly use pixels.

Q: Are you playing Immortal Empire, and if so, which class are you playing as?

A: Absolutely. I’ve played through it several times with every character, my favourite probably being the Summoner.  She just has a huge arsenal of powerful magic spells all centered around summoning “something”, and are really fun to use.  I also like the Berserker and Treant.  They’re the most badass of the Immortals I’d say, the Treant being a huge slow tank, and the Berserker being quick and powerful.

Q: Bioshock 2 mulitplayer is amazingly fun – how did you like working on that?

A: I’m glad you think so! I happen to find it pretty fun too.  What can I say, Bioshock was a great franchise and we had a fantastic team.  The project went smoothly and both Digital Extremes and 2K worked very hard on creating a quality product.  I’m very happy with the reception and the number of people who seem to be playing multiplayer.

Q: What’s next for you and Tactic Studios?

A: Well I’m still working full time as a Lead Programmer on a new secret console game, but that won’t stop me from focusing on Tactic.  The next thing is to keep updating Immortal Empire.  We have two expansions worth of content planned, with each expansion roughly doubling the length of the current game.  We’re also adding a very light, optional micro-transaction system, which should come online before the expansion is complete.  Other community features such as PVP ladder, tournaments, trading and the like are also planned after the first expansion.  I really want to make sure Immortal Empire is what I’d consider to be a “full” RPG before we move onto another game – somewhere around 50 to 60 hours of gameplay.

After that however, a new game is definitely the plan.  I have lots of other fun ideas and stories to tell, and I won’t stop making games until they’re out there

Rating: E
Genre: RPG
Players: 1
Publisher: Ignition Studios
Release Date: October 23, 2009

RENT

Nostalgia is a JRPG that hearkens back to the good ol’ days of yore when graphics and game play were of a simpler design. Nostalgia will appeal to a niche group of gamers who miss their Sega Dreamcasts and who still futilely argue that merits of a console that we can’t seem to recognize as dead and move on. This isn’t to say a gamer whose never indulged in the above can’t enjoy this game but it’s best you know what you’re getting yourself into.

Nostalgia is set in an alternate world where at the end of the 19th century, airships were the primary mode of travel. We are first introduced to the legendary explorer Gilbert Brown, who while in the process of rescuing a young woman, mysteriously disappears himself after crossing paths with a sinister organization. Eddie Brown, his son, takes up the mantle of Explorer, left by his father and searches to find him. Eddie was taught the way of the sword and his chosen weapon is the blade. Along the way, in his travels, he meets three others that will eventually join his party. Pad, a cynical orphan, his chosen weapon is a gun. Melody, a stubborn, selfish wizard whose chosen weapon is a club. Fiona, the young woman who his father rescued and uses a mysterious power that creates miracles.

Melody and Fiona are the primary female characters in this game and as such they have very flat two dimensional characters (in all fairness all the characters do) but they represent two polar opposites on the female spectrum. Melody is rather arrogant and brash, she has no problem speaking for herself and does, to the annoyance of her male companions. Fiona is the healer and is portrayed as both helpless and selfless. She seems to be incapable of actually doing anything for herself, rarely speaks for herself and readily accepts the kindness of strangers but at opportune moments she’s also capable of throwing herself or her magic in front of those very strangers to save them from harm.

If your looking for solid character development and a meaty story, Nostalgia falls vastly short of the mark. Your characters bond instantly to each other and the story is more of an excuse for Eddie to get out of the house and start adventuring. It’s very bare bones and it’s obvious storyline and plot were not the reasons for creating this game.

Graphics are rendered quite nicely in polygonal 3D and game play is really straightforward and easy to learn using your control pad and buttons only. The action takes place on the top screen and the bottom screen of your DS is where your maps are located. You are able to toggle back and forth from the map location you are currently in, to the much larger World Map, which shows in what part of the world your located. The main story line takes Eddie and his party members to various parts of the world in the search for his father. After landing and exploring the city, he’s usually directed by the townspeople to where the dungeon is located. Upon arriving at the dungeon, Eddie will fight his way to the top and will either encounter a boss to be defeated or a pseudo-boss who he’s not meant to beat (yet) and receives more information that advances the storyline.

The dungeon itself is simple, there is on average about 6 floors, one of which usually involves a puzzle to be solved, traps to be avoided or both to figure out how to advance to the next level. The battle engine is turn based. The save point is usually situated before you get to the boss level. What’s nice is that by the time Eddie and Co. fight through the dungeons they have leveled up enough so that grinding is unnecessary. However, if grinding is your thing, you’re welcome to engage since all of the locations that you visit can be revisited at any time. Along with way, in various shops all over the world, you’re able to upgrade your weapons, armor, accessories, and abilities in addition to customizing your airship.

Speaking of airships, in addition to doing battle in a traditional dungeon setting, you also battle while travelling in your airship. Any time you launch in your airship, you risk the possibility of an encounter and unfortunately the encounter rate is quite high. At the beginning of the game, your ship will only be able to travel in low altitude and the enemies that you face during this time is of a comparable level. Which brings me to my biggest gripe about this game; later on you are able to travel at higher altitudes and some of those encounters are with enemies that have levels much greater than your own and it’s completely random. The types of customizations that are offered for your airship don’t do much at all to make up for this disparity and so consequently, you’ll die. Frustration abounds. When you die, a GAME OVER screen emerges and you have to begin from your last save point. My advice is to make it a habit of saving your game and to save often and to keep in mind that saves while in dungeons aren’t available except at designated save points.

In addition to the main storyline there are also Quests and trips to find World Treasure. Quests are a part of the duties that you have acquired as a member of the Adventurers Association. Completion of said quests nets you money and allows you to advance your rank within the organization. At first, you will only have one quest available to you, later on when you’ve advanced in rank, you will have more choices. You can only accept a quest that corresponds to your rank. World Treasure trips are conducted entirely from your airship when Evans (a museum curator) gives you clues to find a particular ruin on the map. After finding it, upon reporting back, you’re given a reward.

Recording every detail of your game play is your trusty Adventurers Notebook. The Notebook records your Quests, World Treasure, Character, Monster and Item data, Maps and your Personal Diary. What’s nice about the notebook is that it records numerically, which means that as you progress through the game, you can tell by looking at your percentages what stage of the game you’re in and if your anywhere close to completion. Monster data is also very useful since it will tell you what their HP is and what their elemental weakness is. The Maps of the dungeons will also let you know if you’ve managed to explore it in its entirety by giving you a percentage. The Notebook is arranged as such, if you’re an OCD completionist (like me) you simply must have a 100% rate for all of your dungeons. With everything your required to do this game could very easily reach the 30 hour mark, especially since after you beat the game, you also unlock additional dungeons.

Nostalgia is a throwback to the old RPG’s. There’s nothing particularly original about this game, no voices, no animation, no fancy combos during battle. It’s just a happy trip down memory lane that Ignition Studios has happily allowed us to indulge.