Final Fantasy IX reviewed

Oh Final Fantasy IX, I believed the people that said you were one of the best Final Fantasy games in the main-line series.  I didn't even have to buy a sequel to beat you...granted, there is no sequel and the closet we have is Dissdia but my thoughts on handheld gaming is kinda known here.  And after pouring over 50 hours, getting a good portion of the sidequests and ultimate weapons & stealing more than I should have I have one word for those people....WRONG!  I haven't seen this many wrongness in a supposedly great game since the first Devil May Cry but unlike Devil May Cry, I have nice things to say about its gameplay.  So with that said, let's get this review of Final Fantasy IX over with.

So you play a Zidane, some guy in this thieving/theater group that's out to kidnap Princess Garnet of Alexandria and perform a play while they're at it.  Things get weird when Garnet demands that the group kidnaps her, which they do with gusto.  But due to some WACKY hijinks, they also get a child-like Black Mage and a Knight Captain tagging along with them.  But the mood is about to change as Queen Brahme...of Alexandria has been warring with the other cities in her vicinity and using various Eidolons to destroy them which is bad. Then it's discovered that this weird, effeminate arms dealer, Kuja,  from a faraway land is using the Queen as a pawn in his grand scheme to take over the world and rule it and stuff.  That's also bad and the gang plus some other guys you find team up to stop Kuja.

Now from what I wrote, this sounds fairly standard and straight-forward doesn't it?  Well it's not as straight-forward as it might seem.  This game is pretty told in an episodic nature but it's not really told in that since the game wants you to treat as one story where each bit flows into the next.  The thing is that the game takes little time to develop each "episode" properly so when the next one begins you're utterly lost on how you got to the next episode.  I was utterly confused on what I was doing and what was happening after I got Garnet and before Kuja came aboard but I will also admit, I might just be dumb.  I will also admit that the story actually crystallizes into being understandable by the end of Disc 3 but if you have to do that that late in the game, your story isn't very good.  I mean I blasted Final Fantasy X's story but like it or not, it made sense.  It may have been weak, especially the first 10 hours but you knew what was going on, like it or not.  Hell, VII's story was basically a mind screw but each bit flowed wonderfully to the next bit so that you had to pay attention but it wasn't deliberating confusing you.

But a weak story can be overcome with good gameplay, it won't get a perfect score but it won't be a total waste of time either.  Here...doesn't happen but there's some good things that I'll get out of the way first.  You get abilities from weapons that you have to grind for to keep.  I thought that was pretty good and it was more fun grinding for abilities than grinding for levels.  The battle system had the potential to be good fun since there is beauty in its simplicity but there's the one fatal flaw in it, the ATB system.  I've said it before that I'm not a fan of it but let's face it, it's here and there's nothing I can do about it.  I even don't mind it when it's done well like in Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII.  In IX however, it's like everyone is soaked in molasses in January.  You input a command and you wait, then it's done and repeat.  Then the enemy attacks, you wait and then you get hit.  The whole point of ATB was that you didn't wait!  You just hit a command and then they will do it right then and there.  If you're going to make the player wait, go back to the turn-based system!  At least X did that right.

Then there's the Trance system which is the biggest waste of time in the game, by far.  The idea of Trance is a pretty good one since it's pretty much Limit Breaks with a lot more options and a lot more power plus it lasts a few turns instead of one.  The problem is that getting to Trance is such a hassle.  You get hit and the Trance bar fills up, that's not a problem but it's so slow in filling up in that it's never dependent on how much damage you get.  It's like there's one set increase per hit and it's a small increase every time.  Then when you do get Trance it's almost always at the end of the battle, you already have your comrades set to attack and the enemy dies with the next attack.  You also don't get to keep your Trance power-up either so all that damage you took was for nothing.  However, when you are actually in a position to use your powers it is generally worth it.


The best thing about this game is how appealing the characters are.  They are full of joy and life with moments of seriousness being few and far between...granted they do get serious when it's called for.  The characters all have their own arcs and have great moments of character development.  Of course, this finds a way to screw that up since a few arcs end way before the game ends making those characters just free-loaders who help you through some tough times and helps you kick ass and stuff.  It's not a horrible flaw but it just bothered me when characters I liked lost their significance fairly early on.

Final Fantasy IX is a highly overrated game that's loved by the Final Fantasy fanbase only for the fact that it wasn't VIII.  The fact that I barely like it is a damn miracle due to some horrible flaws in this.  The story is pretty much random scenes thrown together through sheer force of obligation.  The battle system could have been fun if it wasn't so slow.  The Trance system is horribly flawed and ultimately useless.  The music and in-game graphics are forgettable, but the FMV's are awesome, action-packed and very suspenseful.  The characters and dialogue are very appealing even if they lose importance as the game goes on.  There's stuff to like in this, the sidequests are the most fun you can have in a Final Fantasy game, but it's not one of the great Final Fantasy games.

7/10

Final Fantasy VII reviewed

I remember back in late 1997 or even early 1998 I was at my aunt and uncle's house.  My cousin had a Playstation and he had this demo disk of what Square was up to circa 1996.  My brother popped it in and he chose the Final Fantasy VII demo while I watched since I was just starting to get into RPG's due to Super Mario RPG.  Needless to say my mind was blown from the music to the huge Buster Sword to the black guy with a gun for an arm to blowing something up.  I was utterly obsessed with it and I even read the strategy guide from front to back wanting to know more about the story.  And then I actually played it but I got a bit overwhelmed at the third disc and quit.  That was years ago but today I have re-played Final Fantasy VII and I beaten it.

You start as Cloud Strife, uncaring mercenary for AVALANCHE who is attempting to take down the evil Shinra corporation from stealing the planet's life-force through their Mako Reactors.  On his journey is Barret and childhood friend Tifa but due to some WACKY hijinks, they get separated and he bumps into a flower girl named Aeris...or Aerith, the last surviving ancient.  And one thing leads to another and you raid Shinra HQ but wouldn't you know it, someone already killed the President Shinra.  That someone is the real Big Bad, Sephiroth who was once a great solider who went insane and then went missing but presumed dead.  Turns out, he was just trapped in the Lifestream and is now summoning Meteor to hit the planet so the planet will use the Lifestream to heal himself right into Sephiroth so he can be a new God, damn.  Oh and Aeris/Aerith dies.

The first thing that really surprised me is how well the CG graphics in this still holds up.  Now by that I mean the backgrounds and the buildings.  They're still highly realistic and almost indistinguishable from photos of those places, if those places actually existed and there were actual photographs of them.  The point is that those are very good then and very good now.  The FMV's are also look pretty good, not in the same level as the backgrounds but they get the job done and I wouldn't laugh them off in this current era of gaming but the fact that when they talk, it's in subtitles which is weird.  But then again I remember Final Fantasy's first foray into voice acting with X and I shudder.  Of course, there's the field sprites where everyone has these big forearms and these teeny tiny biceps that can be laughed at.  It's those kinds of sprites where nobody has a mouth most of the time and when they do it just looks weird.  But you get used to the Lego spirtes.

The battle system is your standard Final Fantasy ATB system which I was never a huge fan of but I do admit when it's done well.  Here, it's done as well as it can possibly be.  The speed of the battles is reasonably paced and you don't have the feeling that the enemy is being cheap.  But it's not that that'll kill ya, it's the over-long attack animations, especially the summons.  Most of them last a minute but then there's a couple that last a couple minutes which is enough for a quick trip to the bathroom.  It looks pretty but it gets to be a too bit much.  The Materia system is a decent idea where anyone can do anything with the right materia but the strategy isn't too important, but it's fun.

However, I do think that the game takes a step down once you leave Midgar. Before you have this great cyberpunk environment and you have a great sense of purpose for doing what you're doing.  Granted, you're doing terrorist acts and you're mileage WILL vary on that but you're swept up in this self-contained story that you want to see what happens next.  But once the game opens up, I didn't get that swept up feeling that I did.  I'm not saying that it's bad but let's face it, Sephiroth isn't as interesting as Shinra despite Sephiroth's best efforts like killing Aeris(th) or that fire walk in Nibelhelm.  I don't know, all the best moments after leaving Midgar usually involves Rufus Shinra.

Final Fantasy VII has been near or on top of the lists of greatest games of all time and it's easy to see why.  It is basically the Star Wars for RPG's.  It was innovative, it was candy for the eyes and it is extremely entertaining.  It's true that this game is over-worshiped to a sickeningly degree, the plot gets a bit too complex and the translation isn't perfect with such gems like "This guy are sick" and "To the settling of everything!" but I think it does deserve its reputation.  It is a great game and without it, RPG's wouldn't be where they are now.  Just remember that.

9/10

Video Game Review: Final Fantasy Tactics

So among a wedding and other things I've not endured anything new worth reviewing. So I delved back into my game archives of PS2 and PS1 titles.

Final Fantasy Tactics came out in June 1998 in the USA, it's a Strategic Role Playing game where you take on the role of Ramza Beoulve, a cadet from a Nobel family who gets thrown into the heart of the Lion Wars. Through him you experience the conflict thatgoes from a war between rivals to a fight for human existence.

LIKED:

Setting: Like many of the title that came before it, it's set in a fantastical setting, although it's a little more grounded in familiar medieval atmosphere that's believable. Religion, politics, and social class are all crossed within the confines of this story. There are of course the familiar elements of what makes a FF game - magic, summons, a man name Cid, chocobos, etc.

Characters: Aside from the main and supporting characters, whom are very well crafted and actually lets you get invested in their stories and feel the consequences of their actions, you have 'blank slate' characters that you can customize with the job classes within the game. With almost any character, if you take the time, can master man job classes, and gain their skills and bonuses to use on those characters. You can also give them names too - it's odd how doing these little things, you get wrapped up in them and feel a loss were you to lose them in battle - and yes, they can die and go away forever. There is also several guest characters, including Cloud Strife from FF7, to add to strengthen/diversify your party.

Battle System: This was probably the most unique thing about it at the time of its release. Instead of the classic system of enemies on one side, your guys on the other, the developers made a 3D landscape with 2D sprites and made battle more of a strategy than a hack-n-slash. You have to go in with an idea of what to do in A, B, or C situation, and can tailor your characters to suit your style - it's worth noting that brute force alone will not get your through the battles, sometimes.

Design: It should be noted that for how intricate you can get with job classes and even read up on the worlds history as it develops through the Historian, the interface is rather simple and easy to navigate. The 2D sprites on a 3D world is not new but they hit the formula right. Other games later use this same formula with success, but somehow FF:T does it just right to not overload you with options.

ON THE FENCE:

Grinding: Like most games of this area there requires a certain amount of time to train your party which for some without the patience to do so will find it rather boring. I find if I'm in the mood for it I'm good to go, and if not, I won't get very far. It's dependent on the player really. IT does take an investment of time to master some of the higher level job classes, but they are worth it in the end.

Enemy Strength: In line with Grinding, if you are not prepared to face your enemies you will get swamped easily. Enemies not only level up with you, they gain new abilities - thus you are always having to constantly improve yourself and be prepared for the worst. Especially in boss battles. But don't underestimate common enemies either - this world is dangerous.

FINAL VERDICT: If you want a high concept fantasy role playing game that's not typical with a "realistic" atmosphere, wiht some meaty depth, then you should give this a try. It was originally released for PS1, but it has been revamped with new cut scenes and lots of stuff for the PSP.

Final Fantasy X reviewed

So my experience with the Final Fantasy franchise has been littered with half-finished attempts at beating some of the games.  Let's see, I quit playing Final Fantasy I cause it was stupid with a broken battle system.  I quit playing IV cause getting money was way too tedious but to be fair I played the PS port.  I quit playing VI for some reason that I don't know.  I quit playing VII because I got a bit too scared.  I quit playing the VIII demo cause it was too hard....and history has shown that it wasn't worth my time anyways.  And while I don't want to say I quit playing XII...I probably have because it got way too overwhelming for me.  Now for some reason, I got it in my head that X was going to be the Final Fantasy game that I was going to beat going as far as vowing to do so in the public, twittering my progress on my twitter account....which you should be following and even buying Final Fantasy X-2 to ensure that I did beat X.  So what are my thoughts on this?  Let's find out as we dig into Final Fantasy X.

So you start off as Tidus, the best blitzballer that's currently alive since the best blitzballer ever, Tidus's father Jecht, has been missing for 10 years.  So as Tidus's starts proving his awesomeness in a game, some evil being called Sin comes by and destroys the city but lucky for Tidus, his guardian Auron comes by and helps him kick some ass before they get swallowed up by Sin into the land of Spira.  But before long Tidus has to have his butt saved by the savage Al Bhed led by the non-savage and really sexy Rikku who can speak English.  But before long Sin attacks and you're thrown to some other place where you meet the lovable moron Wakka and through some hijinks, I don't think that they're wacky hijinks, you meet the really sexy Yuna, the really sexy Lulu and the beast man Kihmari.  With everyone together, you journey on to find a way to kill the hell out of Sin so he can stop his reign of terror.

The story of X is a bit flawed but it has its moments.  The first strike is that 80% of the game is told pretty much through flashback.  That means everything is a fore-gone conclusion, there isn't any tension on who's going to live or die and you don't get much chance to explore the world as you run around in a very linear manner.  It isn't until very late in the game that you can get an airship and explore the world but even then it's just a list of places you can go instead of flying the thing.  Then it takes about 10 hours before the story stops sucking with lack of transitions, various ass-pulls and some spinning wheels but once it gets going then it gets really good with decent entertainment and emotional moments.

The thing that the Square team really trumpeted was that it was introducing voice-acting to the world of Final Fantasy.  It's somewhat used like how King's Quest V used the new toy of voice acting which was all the time with mostly competent acting but with a couple exceptions.  So our exceptions in X is our two main characters, Tidus and Yuna....which is kinda bad since they're important because they have the most emotional content in their stories.  Tidus is voiced by the guy who does Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank series...after the first game but that doesn't count.  Unfortunately, there is no difference between Tidus and Ratchet making it very weird to hear, I kept expecting Clank to show up and school Tidus with his robot intelligence.  It's just not a good voice for me to hear coming out of a human's mouth.  Then there's Yuna, while I may be too harsh on Tidus, I can never ever be harsh enough on Yuna.  She sounds like a malfunctioning robot with weird inflection and Shatner-esque pauses that don't work at all.  Almost every emotional power that could happen doesn't since Yuna's voice just is unable to convey emotion, it's sad.  Everyone else is at least competent and some are even good.

Also, this game does away with all those fancy experience points like the rest of the Final Fantasy games.  It has sphere points which are kind of like experience points but they're spheres.  And when you gain a level, you don't have all your stats increased like the rest of the FF games.  You get a sphere grid where you can choose what stat you want to increase and what abilities you want to learn...even though progression is mostly linear.  The fatal flaw is that you gain levels way too fast and it is quite easy for you to be over-leveled and overpowered.  That's not a bad thing but it makes the game a bit too easy most of the time.  To be fair it is a great idea and FFXII will tweak the idea into something usable, balanced and awesome with the licensing system.

This game is flawed but there are enough moments for me to not make this a waste of time.  The voice acting is good, but not great other than Tidus and Yuna.  The story takes a while for it get good but when it does it gets really good.  The battle system is a great throwback to the old-school Final Fantasy games where you didn't have this ATB crap to worry about as you choose your strategy wisely.  The sphere grid was a nice idea but a bit poorly executed.  Then there's blitzball....which is a horrible game with poor controls and it sucks and you suck for liking it!  Thankfully I just played it twice before I realized how useless it was.  But it will always be the first Final Fantasy game I ever beaten and that does make me a bit proud.

7/10

Kingdom Hearts reviewed

I want you to imagine two things, the first thing is that you are back in the year 2001.  Then I want you to imagine you first hearing that Disney and Square were teaming up to make a video game where Donald Duck was a magician and Goofy was a knight.  And then the hero's weapon was a huge key that functioned as a sword.  Futhermore, some Final Fantasy characters were going to be there as well!  You would be thinking that would be the end of Square and make Disney a bigger laughing stock they were then.  In fact, you probably wanted to buy it just to see how laughable this game but there was one problem.  The game wasn't laughable at all....it was pretty awesome.  With your mind blown, let's dig into Kingdom Hearts.

The universe is in pretty deep trouble.  Evil shadowy creatures called The Heartless has been destroying the borders that kept the worlds separate.  Then with the walls gone The Heartless found the keyholes to the various worlds which they flood and destroy erasing that world.  Well, King Mickey Mouse isn't going to have any of that but he disappears and mails a letter to Donald and Goofy to find the Keybearer and save the universe.  Meanwhile, we have our main character Sora from Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi.  However, The Heartless destroys the islands which sends Sora into the same path as Donald and Goofy...also, he's the Keybearer.  So now it's a quest to save the universe, find King Micky and find Riku & Kairi.

You got all that?  As you can see this game is pretty epic.  Now what sets that apart from every other epic RPG?  It doesn't start off that way.  I'm not saying it starts off as fluffy since there's nothing fluffy about a destroyed homeland and being separated from your friends but it starts off more humorous than epic with Donald and Goofy's wacky antics.  Even the early worlds don't really advance the plot that much as you just solve whatever worlds problems.  However, around halfway through the humor stops, the plot goes into full-tilt darkness and the relationships between Riku & Kairi have radically changed.  The change is almost so subtle that you won't notice it when it's happening but only when thinking about it.

Another strength of the game is the battle system.  It's like a combination of Legend of Zelda's 3-D batle system and Secret of Mana's in which there's no battle screen but you do have your stats and some rudimentary decisions to make like what magic and items to use.  You could just mash the attack button and you would be able to do fine, not great but good enough to live.  Now some may think that button mashing is a bad thing and while it is to an extent, here that's not the case since the enemies have enough variety to them to still provide some challenge.

Hell, I even think the gummi ship levels are pretty cool.  I know most people don't like them and they have their own extremely valid reasons but it's not so bad once you get the warp piece and the best engine making those levels immeasurably shorter.  What really gets me about these levels are the backgrounds, as you go deeper in it gets darker and more nightmarish as all color slowly drains away into the darkest place known to man.  Yeah, people do complain it's too slow and too Star-Foxy but those are easily overcome flaws in the bigger scope of things.

This game is pretty damn awesome considering it's pedigree and how it came together.  The battle system is one of the best I played.  The story is awesome, especially as it gets towards the end.  The voice-work is pretty good since they have some of the original voice-overs, great imitators and Billy Zane, which is awesome.  If I really wanted to I could nitpick like some of the weak voices-acting, the weak camera, some dangling plot threads and the beginning of the gummi levels but they're not big enough deals for me to hate on.  If you haven't played this game yet....geez, you're more behind the curve than I am.

10/10

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest reviewed

Mention this game to any Final Fantasy fan and you will have two possible reactions out of them. The first they will convulse, foam at the mouth and possibly have a seizure and then you run away from them cause nobody wants to see that. The other is that they will go to a violent rage and start attacking you and then you run away cause you like your face just the way it is. But after they do whatever it is they were doing they will spout out various reasons for why this game sucks: "It's short!", "It's easy!", "We didn't get Final Fantasy V because of this!" and/or "It's so cliched!"

And yes, each of those criticisms are true...well not the Final Fantasy V one, why we didn't get FFV has nothing to do with Mystic Quest. I don't know the specifics but I know it's not Mystic Quest's fault. But it is short, it is easy and it is cliched but it is a little fun. Also, this was made for kids and RPG newbies who never played RPG's or were previous scared of them so it was intentionally made easy.

So the story is simple, really simple. You're this guy in this world that's falling apart from people suddenly becoming old people, everything being frozen, multiple earthquakes and being extremely windy because monsters took the crystals that support the world. So you have to find them, kill them and take back the crystals with the help of some guys that help you when they're not busy being injured or just plain not busy & this flying old person.

So basically this does sound boring cause you're friends are injury-prone flakes and it's a standard save the world story but there are some clever moments. The cleverest moments comes from the very beginning when you first meet the flying old guy who says you're the guy from this prophecy(yeah there's a prophecy but you should know that, it's that kind of game). Almost immediately you fight some monster and you kill it, then the old guy says he's now sure your the guy from prophecy because he was just guessing before. Then he flies away as you shrug cause your inferior mind doesn't comprehend it and anything else he says in the rest of the game, besides his last line but you've beaten the game by then so who cares.

The other really clever moment is in the music. One of your flakes, I mean party members, has his own theme music and it plays when he's about to come in, so you're looking for where the hell the music's coming from. And then the guy comes in. Speaking of the music, people kind of forget that the music's pretty good in this. Of course it's short before it loops and there's no real logical themes in the game but they are catchy. And there's also really complex....I mean it's not prog-rock but there are many synth-instruments in there like guitars, horns drums and real keyboard synths.

The gameplay may not be as deep as a real Final Fantasy game but it's not meant to be, it also improves some of it. For one thing, there are no random encounters in here at all, every enemy is on the map or part of a battlefield. Now some people hate this, some people, ie me, love this kind of system but this is one of the first to do so, so you have to give it credit. Another thing is that during the battles you fight them and you literally see them decay as you weaken them. Why doesn't any other RPG games use this? We finally have the secret to determine an enemy's strength by looks alone and very few games capitalize on it....sigh, I bet this game's negative reputation had a factor on this...sigh.

So if you think of the Final Fantasy(including the spin-offs and what not) games as Arnold Schwarzenegger movies this is more like Commando. It may be stupid and you could do better but a lot of things do die and every so often there's something clever in it. This is something you know is bad for you but you can't stop playing until you beat the game and the music is awesome in this, like in Commando. Just know what you're getting into when you plug it in, that's all.

6/10