Check out my second Cyberpunk 2077 video starring Fem!V!
Tag: rpg
Check out this News for Kingdom Hearts IV!
Kingdom Hearts: Re Chain of Memories (Playstation 4)
After defeating Ansem, Sora, Donald, and Goofy resume their search for Riku and King Mickey. Along the way, they come across a hooded figure who leads them to a mysterious castle with the words, “Ahead lies something you need but to claim it, you must lose something dear.” What is it that Sora needs and what is it that he must lose?
Read More »
Kingdom Hearts (PlayStation 4)
When Sora loses his friends and home to an invading enemy called the Heartless, he must team up with Donald and Goofy to travel the galaxy and save his friends. On his journey, he gets a new weapon called the Keyblade that he must master. However, he must not only fight the Heartless but the Disney villains who use them as pawns to take over the galaxy. Can Sora find his friends and put a stop to the Disney villains evil plot?
Read More »Final Fantasy Origins Part 1(Target or Walmart)
The Final Fantasy games are some of the most profitable video games you can find. Years ago, Square Enix remade the very first two games of the series for the Playstation. One considered a remake in both Japan and America and the other released for the very first time in the latter.
Final Fantasy
Since time began, four orbs controlled the elements of fire, water, wind and earth. Now, those orbs fell to the power of darkness. Only four warriors of light, each carrying a crystal, can restore power to the orbs and banish darkness once and for all.
That’s right, the very first game of a plot driven series has little to none of what made the series great in the first place. You never find out anything about the warriors you control, such as how they met or how they came across the crystals in the first place. Every town you drop in has just as much amount of plot and character development. The webcomic, 8-bit Theater, spoofs the very flaws you find in this game. I can’t really fault the writer for that, since everyone involved thought this would be their final game (hence why they called it Final Fantasy).
What the game lacks in story it more than makes up for in gameplay. In the beginning, you name four characters and choose a class for each one. Choose wisely, because, until you get class changes, you’re stuck with these four characters for the rest of the game. You travel the overworld map fighting battles to gain experience points. You also go through dungeons to bring power to the orbs and collect quest items. During your journey, you can visit towns to upgrade your equipment, purchase spells for your mages and resurrect dead characters. In this game, the only way for resurrection is either life spells or visiting the temple and paying the person to revive them. You can also rest at the inn and save your game. The only other saves you can do are memo saves, which is more of a safety mechanism than anything else.
This game is simplistic yet addictive. I give it 6 out of 10; a mediocre plot with fun game play.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Gamestop Store)
Ganon’s back and this time his targets are the descendents of the seven sages. In order to stop him, Link has to travel to the Sacred Realm. Can Link save two worlds from the evil Ganon?
This game introduced me to the Zelda franchise. It also started a trend among the Zelda games, gather a few items, plot twist and then gather another set of items. Since this was the third game, Zelda doesn’t really do anything more special than push objects out of the way. As I said earlier, you have to save the descendants of the seven sages and guess what gender they all are. Ganon trapped each one of them in a crystal and, since this is before the Zelda games would have a day to night cycle, it only takes one day to free them. Still, I do wonder how they’re going to the bathroom if they’re inside a crystal. On second thought, I’d rather not think about it. When you rescue the maidens, each one tells you about the story of Ganon and the seven sages, something you can explore more thoroughly in Ocarina of Time. Another thing I don’t get is why Ganon’s magic would change the fairy into an overweight woman. Wouldn’t an evil man want a harem of gorgeous women or men (whatever suits his fancy)? The only way this would make sense is if Ganon has a fat fetish.
The game play is as fun as ever. You walk around the map destroying enemies for items. Then you enter various dungeons and defeat the bosses in order to collect quest items. You can visit various places in the over world to get upgrades and collect heart pieces. When you’ve collected all necessary quest items, you can take on Ganon.
This game is addictive and intriguing. I give it 7 out of 10; the start of the games taking on a darker tone.
Aveyond: The Darkthrop Prophecy (Bigfishgames.com)
When Mel discovered her magic powers, she hid in the village of Harakauna. Unfortunately, the darklings discover her whereabouts and try to bring her to Underfall. At the same time, a representative of Veldarah Academy wants to recruit her in order to help her train her magic. Will Mel choose the path of light or the path of darkness?
For those of you who haven’t played the game, be warned that there are a few spoilers in this review. I will hand one thing to the Aveyond staff. Instead of giving Mel powers and forgetting about it, like they did with Fox on Gargoyles, they actually make it the plot point. Unfortunately, when they get to the schooling part, they do the same thing they’ve always done. They rush right through it in order to get to the plot rather than combining both story elements. There’s also a scene where trouble happens at Shadwood Academy.
Unfortunately, no one believes Mel when she says that it’s because of her. Mel thinks that Edward would believe her, which is an odd conclusion to come to considering that Edward’s never believed her about anything. Considering how often the crazy stuff she says comes true, you think he’d learn by now. Instead, Edward dismisses her entirely and Mel holds the idiot ball. For those of you who don’t know, the idiot ball is when a character performs an uncharacteristic act of sheer stupidity in order to drive the plot. In this one, Mel gets a note from a stranger telling her to come alone to a cabin and, instead of informing her professors about it, she goes alone to meet the person. Someone who grew up on the streets ought to know better. Though I do appreciate that, when Mel’s in trouble, she tries to find a way out of there instead of waiting for the others to rescue her. For the rest of the game, you take on the role of Stella and I’ve noticed that when she gets an item and has to put it in a slot, she says, “I wonder,” while Mel has to have someone explain to her what to do. Te’ijal and Galahad have returned for the final game and, later on, we get an argument from them that looks like something that came out of Twilight. Oh, and you notice that when Te’ijal’s in control, she only makes decisions that make her happy while when Galahad’s in control, he tries to compromise for both of them? I’m going to give the staff the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is more about the characters than it is an issue of gender. Oh, and remember when Lydia stole the throne from Edward? The Aveyond staff wrapped up that problem as an afterthought rather than making it important to the plot. In the ending, you get to pick a bride for Edward. The canon option makes sense and doesn’t at the same time. When Mel tells Edward there’s trouble, he instantly dismisses her. When Stella tells Edward there’s trouble, he runs off to stop it. On the other hand, Edward has spent the whole game being irritated with Stella and worried nonstop about Mel. Add to that the fact that Edward marrying Mel in The Lost Orb is the canon beginning, it becomes even more baffling that Stella is the canon choice. Considering how many pairings have gone against the fan preference, I wonder if, at this point, the Aveyond staff loves to screw with their fan base.
The game play is, once again, your typical RPG. You travel the world battling monsters to raise your levels.
You can purchase items in towns and talk to NPCs to receive side quests. If you’re having trouble, visit the goodie caves to give yourself an advantage. The only difference this game has is that, not only can Stella learn spells by equipping weapons and leveling up, Edward can power up his sword by using sword stations.
This game is addictive but the plot could use some work. I give it 6 out of 10; a bad conclusion to Aveyond 3.
Aveyond: The Lost Orb (Bigfishgames.com)
Just when Mel thought she’d seen the last of the orbs, a mysterious woman named Nox tells her about the Orb of Death. Now she and her friends must destroy the lost orb before anyone of evil intent can get their hands on it.
The beginning of the game depends entirely on whom you had Edward propose to in the last one. Either way, Lydia tricks Edward into marrying her by locking the intended bride in the dungeon and disguising herself as said bride. While it’s not hard to believe that Lydia would desire the throne, some of her actions don’t match with her personality in the previous game. For instance, in Gates of Night, she tries to save Stella and sees the mission to the end. You can argue that all of this was a ruse to make Edward like her, but Lydia is also an accomplished mage. If she was only after the throne, couldn’t she have just cast a love spell? She can easily buy a love potion and spike Edward’s drink with it. Not to mention that amulet Lydia found in Gates of Night that she uses to make Edward buy her dresses, she could use that to make Edward marry her and become her slave. Speaking of love potions, the game once again romanticizes them. There’s this one scene where you create a love potion and Spook (a recently introduced character) and Edward fight over who gets to use it on Mel. Since I always thought of love potion as a date rape drug, this didn’t sit well with me. Later on, you find out Spook’s intentions, so the game could have easily just had Spook try to use the love potion while Edward tries to stop him. Edward and Spook also act incredibly obnoxious and neither one of them thinks to ask Mel what she wants. Did I mention that Edward will be fighting Spook for Mel’s affections even if you had him marry someone else? Oh, and for future reference, if you ever ask someone about their past and they say that their story will bore you, that’s usually code for “don’t trust me; I’m up to no good.” I’m also wondering why a village that shuts itself off from the rest of the world would have an MME system (mirror transportation) and signs pointing how to get there. Another problem I had was interests and prejudices that seem to come out of nowhere. For those of you who haven’t played the game, there will be spoilers in what I say next. Ulf (the orc traveling with you) wants to stay in Harakauna to become an alchemist. Now I can believe that he’d want to stay in a village full of talking animals and shape shifters that makes him feel welcome, but he has shown as much interest in alchemy beforehand as Lana Lang from Smallville did in art before applying to an art school in Paris, which is absolutely none. At the end of the game, Mel unlocks her magical abilities. Now I can believe that Mel’s abilities remained dormant because she’s had good luck relying on her mind all her life like Fox from Gargoyles. The only difference is that Fox actually demonstrated her intelligence while Mel has to have her hand held every step of the way. Oh, and did you know that Mel hates magic? Neither did I. She’s been around magic users and held them no ill regards and now that she has magic herself, she develops a prejudice for it for no reason whatsoever other than the writer needed to add unnecessary conflict to the story. Other than all that, the plot is actually quite interesting. The new characters are entertaining and I found the insane Empress of Eldrion to be hilarious.
The game play is very addictive. You travel a 2-d map collecting treasure, potion ingredients and fighting monsters. The last one will help you gain levels to make the characters stronger. You can visit towns to purchase supplies, check your mail and teach Mel a new skill at the town’s agency. In this game, the training actually has something to do with the skill you’re learning. You can also complete side quests in addition with the main quest for 100% completion. During the game, you will have opportunities to either increase Mel’s attraction to Spook or decrease it. If you’re tired of having to move around so much, use the Magical Mirror Express, or MME, to travel between towns faster. You can also stop by hidden goodie caves to make the game easier.
This game is addictive and entertaining. I give it 7 out of 10; the game play makes up for the many problems with the story.
Aveyond: Gates of Night (Amaranthgames.com)
After the wicked witch, Heptitus, stole the first quarter key, Mel and the others regroup at Thais. Now they need to get what they lost and find a ship to complete their mission.
This game is a continuation of Lord of Twilight. In my review of that game, I neglected to discuss the plot. One thing Aveyond fans will appreciate is that Te’ijal and Galahad, two optional fans from the first game, are now a couple of the main characters. It’s Te’ijal’s brother, Gyendal, who is the main villain and they are the ones that save Mel. The first game did have a few problems, such as rushing through Mel’s schooling to get to the main plot. Gyendal also had no true motivation and is only evil for the sake of being evil. It also has some good points. Remember in my review of Aveyond 1 when I said that I found Galahad’s noble prejudice annoying? Well, in this game, he’s miserable as a vampire and feels great anger for his wife, Te’ijal, yet he will still help her in her quest to stop Gyendal’s plan to take over the world. Speaking of Gyendal, his plan doesn’t make sense to me. Gyendal is a vampire, like his sister, and wants to rule the Overworld. The problem is humans are their dinner and it seems like vampires would want them in abundance to quench their thirsts. If they ruled the overworld, that food source would quickly diminish. Te’ijal must see this and, like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has no desire to lose her endless supply of happy meals. Galahad, unlike Te’ijal, has no desire to drink from a human and still maintains his appearance from the first game.
As I said earlier, this game is a continuation of Lord of Twilight. New characters join the group, such as Lydia who hopes to become Prince Edward’s bride. Speaking of Edward, he has to get married by the end of Gates of Night and can choose between three women, Mel, Stella and Lydia. If he doesn’t pick any of them, his parents choose for him and let me say that their selection is hilarious but wouldn’t have been the slightest bit funny if the genders were reversed. In the next game, there will be girls that have no love interest whatsoever but it seems like, in this series, only the guys have options about who to marry while the girls only have one fixed option and this isn’t the first time this has shown up. In Ahriman’s Prophecy, Devin could choose between Talia and Alicia. Another problem I have is Lydia’s character. We see her true motivation for marrying Edward in the next game but Lydia’s actions don’t match up. For one thing, when she locates an amulet that can hypnotize Edward, she only uses it to buy more dresses for herself. If the throne was Lydia’s goal, why didn’t she just use the amulet to make Edward propose to her? In another scene, she saves Stella’s life for no reason that I can comprehend. There’s also the issue of Mel’s informed ability. We’re told that she is a clever thief yet, in the first game, Edward has to tell her that he’s the Prince of Thais after many months of her living there and hanging out with him. The only time we see her being clever is in the Orc Kingdom and the citizens are so incredibly stupid that they could fall for the look behind you trick. In Venwood, when trying to access the water tower, it’s Lydia who figures out that the controls to activate it are rusted. Mel’s informed ability is truly highlighted in the fourth game but I’ll talk about that when I get to it.
The game play in this one is exactly the same as the last. You travel the world to complete the main quest while completing various side quests along the way. You encounter various monsters that you can fight to make your characters stronger. In this game, you can finally get a ship and a compass to teleport you straight to your ship’s location. You can’t join a guild but you can visit each one. You can also locate various agencies in order to teach Mel new skills, though what she does and the skill she learns doesn’t really match up. For example, in Venwood she has to catch five butterflies in order to learn the Orc language. How butterflies and Orcs go together, I have no idea. You can also collect attraction points between Edward and the girl you want him to marry. When you have the minimum number of points, you can have Edward propose to the desired girl. Lydia requires zero, Stella requires four and Mel requires all seven. As I said earlier, you can purchase gowns for Lydia but only one in each shop. If you want to buy them all, you’ll have to use the golden amulet. You can also buy weapons and armor for your characters and purchase spellbooks for Lydia.
This game is addictive but not without problems. I give it 7 out of 10; a brilliant continuation of Lord of Twilight.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Part 3: Gameboy Color Version (Amazon.com)
After the PC version, I concentrated on this one next. Unlike the other games, this one focuses more on the story from the book. It also has an RPG aspect that makes it unique.
Since I’m very picky about research (except when it comes to school work), I read the first Harry Potter book and viewed the first movie again. I have to admit that, compared to the later ones, this one isn’t quite as great but it’s still enjoyable. Still, what is it about these books that make them so popular? Maybe it’s because, as Bobby Bacala (The Sopranos) says, “it gives the other kids, the 98 pound weakling, some hope.” It might also be because, unlike other books targeted to children, Harry Potter is not so condescending. In many books that are aimed towards children, when the main character broke a rule no matter how minor, they were automatically caught and punished for it. This method was a way to manipulate children into being obedient robots. In these books, sometimes Harry is rewarded for breaking rules or he’s punished. Sometimes, he doesn’t get caught at all. However, it might be because books in the UK aren’t as condescending as books in the US. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
As I said, this game is the most loyal to the book with a few differences. For one thing, it’s Hermione who tells Harry about Snape instead of Percy, which makes absolutely no sense considering that Hermione knows as much about the teachers as Harry does while Percy’s been there for five years. Some scenes follow the book exactly and yet seem out of place, such as McGonagall showing up out of nowhere to take twenty points from Slytherin and Draco not even objecting to that whatsoever. Sometimes it gets the characters wrong, such as having Draco give Harry a prize for beating him when Draco is a sore loser. Another thing is that makes this game notable is that it’s the only one to have you attend History of Magic. Don’t worry, all you do is get sent to Diagon Alley to retrieve a card.
The game play is RPG like which separates it from the other ones in the series. You run into magic clouds and get into a battle with various monsters. The more experience points you gain, the more you level up. If you use a spell enough times you can also have it upgraded. Oh, and you can collect wizard cards and card combinations you can use to aid you in battle.
To me, this seems out of place because RPG elements don’t really suit Harry Potter. I prefer learning spells in classes and going through the obstacle courses in other games because it feels more like you’re in a magical school. Did I mention that this is the only game where Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw could win the House Cup rather than automatically losing to Slytherin if you don’t have enough points?
This game is loyal but out of place. I give it 3 out of 10; it’s unique but not in a good way.