Category: RPG

Posted on

Video Game #21 (Mario)

Image result for nintendo ds mario edition

The iconic character in video game history made its mark in a Donkey Kong arcade game as the ID of Plumber. He became more than that in the decades to come. From Platformers, any sport in the books, RPG’s even, you name it and they have it in store for you to try.

Mario transcends in the world phenomenon to be engaging to video game goers alike including myself. One of many was Super Mario 64 that taught children how to learn basic instructions. A simple matter of review, using it to progress through the game to defeat a long stride video game bad guy Bowser to save the princess. Toadstool was its original which still is used from time to time, but now she is namely Peach as many of you know her by.

Super Mario RPG was the first RPG in the Mario series in my opinion to show off that part of the generation of traditional games such as Final Fantasy and various others. You get a sense that Bowser isn’t really a bad guy in this one, better yet he joins you to take out a sinister threat that made his castle not usable for his evil ways. To make matters more interesting, a non-Final Fantasy character to this day I am not sure where he came from goes by the name Culex. It ironically plays Final Fantasy music when being fought which at the time was really cool. Onto the next genre of the series.

Super Smash Bros. is accountable as one of the best things to happen in video game history. It brought characters from iconic to unknown individuals that would end up eventually in their own game to become popular for a time. Various companies competed with this with games such as Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat, and more. A world phenomenon saw an even bigger picture on this given game that it made gaming communities to come together to create branches of various communities which is amazing.

Returning to RPG’s, Paper Mario really out done itself in its time. The 1st one is what you could expect: memorable Mario characters, areas, Bowser himself, and others. In the 2nd Paper Mario (known as Thousand Year Door), things took a very different turn which makes it the most intriguing thing in a Mario game. Very sinister plotting in this game was really something. When you come across something that is dangerous, they really mean it. When you successfully collect all seven relics known as Crystal Stars, the Thousand Year Door opens in a dark and disturbing matter. When entered, it plays a stinger that says you should not be here. Even your party members say something feels wrong and we probably shouldn’t be here. That means something in a video game, but you continue onward to see horrors that will transpire at the end of the tunnel. It turns out there was a being known as an Eldritch Abomination that came out of the tomb. It took over the host (that being Peach), and became the one thing Mario wanted to save only to see her as this thing taken over. For the first time in his hero career (and plumber), he lost. Eventually something remarkable happened. The people including his brother Luigi were encouraging him to not give up on the struggle against the ancient being known as the Shadow Queen. Mario did succeed but made it so he got help by others to guide through the fight. So it comes to show you that even Mario cannot always be on a winning streak and must call it quits from time to time.

I name many others but I would be ramble on and on so I made it clear that Mario became an icon in many ways in every video game goer’s view. To the question being what did you see when Mario came into the world of gaming? What is your favorite Mario genre and game thus far? Do you think it will continue to strife through more decades to come?

Thanks for your time and have a great week.

Posted on

Video Game #20 (Final Fantasy)

Final Fantasy wordmark.svg

A franchise that is the true meaning of fantasy (literary). Final Fantasy is to be considered the most influential towards the world and myself included. I personally have not played all of them but I get a sense of what they represent in their own game.

Starting off with FFI (Final Fantasy (whatever the number)), my buddy showed it to me but wasn’t able to play it through its entirety. You got yourself a basic story to get a group of members together and rescue the princess from evil bad guy (sound familiar?). After completing the task, it turns out the credits begin to roll, BUT the game continues to something more unique afterward. Sadly I wasn’t able to see the rest of it, but I got a sense of what story would come through just the 1st game.

FFII is not what I played, so not much is known on my experience.

FFIII I was being observant when my brother played it, and he said it is a hard Final Fantasy alongside various others.

FFIV was a Final Fantasy that a remaster in the Nintendo DS to which I did play it when I had one. Here’s the thing about this one: at first you don’t succeed train harder and try again. Or in the case of having a lot of luck on your side. That’s the 4th installment in a nutshell, good game nonetheless.

FFV was only watching videos on and not playing it. My brother showed my a few clips from it such as Gilgamesh’s debut into the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. He showed me the villain Exdeath and one of your party members refuses to die and stays at 1 HP for an crazy event that occurs during the fight. Moving onto the next installment…

FFVI was what made Final Fantasy really what it is today. You got a kingdom, government, a world, and a particular character by the name Kefka. This fellow did the impossible: destroy the world and become god. That’s saying a lot since he was the guy behind the guy sequence. His maniacal laugh is infamous in all ways of direction of this particular character. Considered to be the best video game villain of all time past various video game bad guys I’ve seen.

FFVII was my first Final Fantasy that I played (surprised?) Great nostalgia from start to finish as controlling Cloud for the most part. This FF is notifiable of its characters, places, gameplay, music, you name it. Sephiroth being another iconic character as second best to Kefka as being the first (there I said it!). The most awesome thing that happened in this Final Fantasy was a move called Super Nova. When this triggers, it is a 2:06 animation. Seeing for the first time is amazing, after a while you can go somewhere and come back to it when it finished.

FFVIII was a heard from case scenario. Saw it at my brothers old buddy’s house and showed the ending sequence that being the final boss. His buddy wanted to show us a super attack called Lionheart which was the coolest thing in this Final Fantasy game. An odd and yet interesting story I’ve heard too which I might come to play it in the near future. Also would like to end with if you intend to do the “trading card” side quest, you are up for many mistakes on the way and a lot of luck.

FFIX was the case that I played it and didn’t get very far which is quite a shame. I for the most part watched my brothers play it to which I enjoyed watching of course. This was also the case of doing the segment over and over again until you complete the task so that was annoying. This Final Fantasy holds the most unique and hardest bosses in the franchise: Ozma. Does level matter, yes. Does skill matter, yes. Do you need a lot of luck, absolutely. This Final Fantasy marked the end of your traditional aspect to the genre.

FFX was the second Final Fantasy I played. This Final Fantasy marked as the first of the genre to have voice acting, cinematic experience, a brand new battle system, and various other attributes. Very notable characters, story doesn’t pick up until the end to which was a bad thing however in this one it was still an excellent game nonetheless. That dang Blitzball is one of most annoying and hard minigame to this day. However, it holds the best overlimit ability to one of the party members Wakka so something to consider in your playthroughs for one day. If you so happen to love playing Blitzball, have at it.

FFXI is a Final Fantasy I have not played so moving on.

FFXII is a game that introduced another new system that would apply to future Final Fantasies: Real time combat. It was good while it started out in this particular one, I personally thought it would change this franchise as a whole (to which it did). I like to end this with a boss that is for the ages: Yiazmat. Grab food, drinks, cause it is going to be a long and hard encounter. Time is 30-35 minutes so good luck with that.

FFXIII, XIV and XV are only watchable in my time so not much to talk about. I’ve only heard of things too from my brother and a buddy of mine and that is it.

So the question is what is your favorite Final Fantasy? Character? Event? Boss? Music? Until then, see you next time.

Posted on

Video Game #10 (Tales of Vesperia)

Related image

This was the last Tales game I played before putting down this franchise. The reason being is that it is not as good compared to what it was back in the early 2000s I saw in my view of the Series. The only Tales game on the Xbox 360 to my knowledge, it turned into a new set of gameplay that I did enjoy. I would have not been able to adapt to the future series just because of a different feel of gameplay.

This was without a doubt a fantastic Tales game just below Symphonia. The only thing that was the downfall was the ending. Those of you who have gotten a chance to get a Xbox 360 to play this, you would understand the sadness that I am about to share. You did everything, fought a semi-Sephiroth as a SECRET end boss was amazing. Tremendous so far right? Right. So this is where we fall from the chain. After countless attempts to tell the bad guy that this is wrong, they said, “You are right.” and walk away. That to me killed me the moment of that response and moving off screen. If the ending was taken for a reshoot, I would do just that. Sadly cannot go that persons way all the time.

The best part was the main character you control. Boy, I can express this in one word: Batman. A figure of doing what is right in his mind; his view to keep the world in balance. I will not go into detail for those who haven’t played it about what really happens, and don’t let my rant on the ending tell you not to play it. Who knows, you might see it differently than me.

With that being said, those of you who played it what did you think of the change of gameplay, storyline, etc.? I really suggest this rare Tales game on the Xbox 360 (hope for a remake/remaster on Playstation in the near future) to be engaged on your road of Video Games to play.

As always, have a great week.

Posted on

Video Game #9 (Tales of the Abyss)

Image result for tales of the abyss logo

Continuing where we left off last week, this Tales game was for the feels. There are moments in this given video game that will get you to keep locked into your screen from start to finish. Memorable voice cast (half of the Anime actors come from here and various others), its plot, and could go on about other parts of it. Without further ado, here’s my experience of this Tales game.

It comes a time that one individual can do something and the result is not what you thought it was. Trying to reason with your party, people from various locations given throughout the game, and the choices that person made. However, it comes to a surprise that people have a purpose in the world and turns out it was fake or a dream. Will not go into too much of the plot, but it turns for the worst and make as much of it as you can as you play this Tales game when you get the chance.

There isn’t anything regarding change in my view, however it does come to having a starting marker and go align to get full credit. To which I am saying that when you start or miss something, better luck next play through for that’s how this Series goes by. “If you miss just one thing even if it’s minor, tough luck. Finish your current play through and do it again from the beginning.” I take no joy of it, but I told myself to explore more of the game a second or third. Heck I played this given Tales game seven to eight times to just see that little difference in the story, and various events occur in a different manner.

Of course that is where I may have forgot to mention that from my Symphonia post last week. Otherwise, a friendly reminder wouldn’t hurt. So what did you guys enjoyed about this given Tales game? Those of you who haven’t played it, I would recommend it to you.

Posted on

Video Game #8 (Tales of Legendia)

Image result for tales of legendia logo

Staying on the Tales series for a few more posts. This particular Tales game isn’t as good as Symphonia, but still worth a game to play from start to finish. Surprisingly enough, people don’t go beyond the 2nd part of the game because they believe in their eyes that it is too much they discontinue the game which makes no sense that there’s more content to explore. Some people I think see this Tales game as not as powerful as various Tales games so far, which to say it is THAT terrible. I’ll go into the details that can reinforce the reasoning of this post.

I begin to talk about the gameplay. Playing on a straight line is very difficult since this is one of the few Tales games in the series that you have no flexibility which I understand people’s anger. On top of that, attacking and using abilities/spells couldn’t have been stressful enough either. I press the button and turns out it will do it again without you even wanting to use it two consecutive times,  Trust me, I was one of those people when it started out but quickly got use to the game’s mechanics.

Storywise wasn’t bad, it just turned out that characters knew what was going to happen more than half the time which is a bad habit in video games. Meaning that everything regarding information of past friends, enemies, events, places, etc. I think they enforced that too much which made the game dead at times because everyone including you should be surprised when something occurs in the game. Various video games do that, but not in every situation cause that can lead to bad habits of letting characters say their line that they already knew the fate that befalls upon them. If you play this Tales game enough, you will understand this argument. Otherwise, I just thought I place my thoughts on this concern.

I’m not going to say much about change, but the only thing was what was said above. So what do you think of this particular Tales game? Good, bad, odd? And as always, have a great week.

Posted on

Video Game #7 (Tales of Symphonia)

Image result for tales of symphonia logo

Now this is a video game that can be described as a perfectionist type. Everything about this is a rare occasion that goes by saying there is nothing wrong with this game whatsoever. The story of it keeps you on the edge of your seat, it is over 200 hours which includes sidequests (yes, that much gameplay to explore). Suspense is mindblown from start to finish.

Really the only thing that could have been better, just one thing, was a character by the name of Kvar. A character that pretty much explained the story and goes beyond saying that he knew what he was talking about. Too bad he had no screen time afterward, just a plain bad guy that needs to be put down before more stuff bad happens. Otherwise, the game was a fantastic experience beyond my wildiest dreams and is marked as part of my Top 10 if not Top 5 best video games of all time.

Those of you who haven’t played it, I highly recommend it for JRPG good at heart and witness to wonders beyond your dreams. Others who have played it, what was your experience like and what impact did it make you think of video games we play today?

Posted on

Video Game #6 (Kingdom Hearts)

Image result for kingdom hearts dearly beloved

One of my many childhood memories was this game franchise. Will make it short and sweet for all who are curious of my perspective.

First and foremost, Square did the impossible and made this a reality. What I mean is that they came up with an idea to show off its potential story of various Disney characters and put them into a RPG beyond our wildest dreams. Of course getting teased with the 3rd installment in numerous years but then something magical happened: a trailer and brief gameplay to show proof that it was not forgotten.

Coming to something that I would have changed or developed earlier was the reaction commands. Imagine if KH1 had reaction commands the moment new game mechanics were developed. KH2 was amazing on its own level, but it would have marked KH1 as THE best KH game ever. Ratings would be going off the roof beyond heaven.

Looking forward to what it is about to transpire this year and love to end this with a question I think everyone has been asked before:

What was your experience of Kingdom Hearts?

Until then, have a awesome week.