8bitChris - A day in the life of a gamer dad.

Still Alive

2011-12-02T22:09:00.002-06:00

Wow!

It's been a long time since I've written. I'm still alive. I promise.

What excuse do I have for a lack of updates?

Well, my son Gabriel is now old enough to play games on his own. This means he doesn't have to play "over my shoulder". He's become quite good at Lego games, and even mario and other adventure type games.

This last year I spent most of February - October playing either RIFT (a new MMO) or FFXIV.

I've largely neglected my consoles.

On 10/15, I participated in the Extra Life Marathon. I played RIFT for 24 hours straight. A task that ultimately led to me abandoning the game. 24 hours of anything straight makes quite a good deathknell.

I've switched back to Final Fantasy XIV, as the game has improved drastically. A grand relaunch will commence next year. We'll see if i'm still playing.

Lately, the hectic nature of life has drawn me back to casual console games and book reading. I've also taken to enjoying a good DVD or Blu-Ray movie from time to time.

I suppose I'm getting older, even if my passion of games is still strong.

February 2011 - Update

2011-02-16T09:33:00.002-06:00

I'm going to take a second to outline some of my gamer goals for the coming months.

I'm going to take a few weeks break before starting Crisis Core to tie up some loose ends in my gaming. My to do: list is as follows.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness - Never played it, owned it for years.

Metroid Prime - I don't think I've touched this in a year and half. Which is odd because I really really liked it. Might have to start it over - This would make a good "late night" game once I'm done with Castlevania.

Mega Man 9 - This is actually a fairly new release. I got this on Xbox when it came out a few years ago. Old school 8-bit graphics.

Super Mario Land 2 - I have been neglecting my Mario playthrough. I got this right after I did my review for Super Mario Land, and my son ganked it from me. He loved this game, it's one I hardly remember from my youth. I never owned it as a child, but played a friends copy. This will be followed by Mario 64. (A game I've tinkered with over the years - THAT will be an interesting review)

That's all for the main lineup. Of course, I still play FFXI regularly. A big FFXI patch was released the other day that increases exp yield, so I'm interested to see how that is going to pan out. As far as FFXIV goes, that leads me to my next announcement....

I've built a new PC. My desire to play FFXIV and really experience it in all of it's glory led me to make the choice that is was time for a new PC. I'm going to RESTART FFXIV after I finished building the system. I was torn between just buying a newer and better iMac (mine is almost 3 1/2 years old, and had 1 hard drive failure), or build a better (spec-wise) PC. I decided on the latter. Now, I can't bring myself to quit my iMac. I simply love it too much. So does my wife actually. So here's what's going to happen - The iMac is going to be relocated to the master bedroom as a Family-Computer. Its still going to be maintained and will be the primary work computer. Much as it is now. However, the PC is going to be my gaming powerhouse. I've designed this thing to the max. It's an Intel i7, 6 gigs of ram, 1 TB HD, Nvidia Geforce 460. It's going to be a sweet gaming rig.

If you've paid attention to my history on this blog you'll notice a big art of my life that was devoid of gaming. From around 1995-2001, I hardly ever touched a gaming console. My attention was turned from console gaming by music, girls, and computers. I missed out on the whole Nintendo 64 or a Playstation 1 boom. For this reason, I didn't experience classics like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and Metal Gear Solid until years later.

What games I did play during this period were classic PC titles like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Unreal. I'm thinking of playing through some of these old classic PC games once I build my new rig.

My ultimate goal game-wise is to be "caught up". This means that I've replayed through all the old classics that I love, and finally play through any entries that I missed, bringing me up to speed. So when a new title DOES come out, I can be all ready to play it right along with everyone else.

I still have a ways to go, but i'm about 60% there in my estimation (don't ask how I've arrived at this number. My head a confusing place. Beware.)

Well, time to switch my brain back over to adult mode. I'll write again soon.

Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children

2011-02-16T09:24:00.004-06:00

Having recently completed Final Fantasy VII, I figured now would be a good time to watch the direct-to-video sequel that was made a few years back. I got the Blu-Ray of Advent Children Complete Version last year and never watched it. I had actually been waiting until I finished playing FFVII, so the the mythology of the game would be fresh in my mind.

What can I say? The movie was stunning, beautiful. The surround audio was well done. But, the movie itself, meh. I don't know what it is. People tend to love anime with a passion, but I just can't get into it. It's crazy, because I love japanese art. But this, like any other anime-style feature I've watched has a confusing storyline, its overly dramatic, there's flashbacks and flash forwards and flash-sideways, it's dizzying.

I'm not saying I hated it. But, I'm in no hurry to watch it again. I personally know several people that love this movie. I just didn't feel it.

That being said, it's probably one of the highest quality HD features I've ever watched. It makes a great tech-demo for Blu-Ray :P

My next stop in the FF playthrough is going to be the FFVII Prequel: Crisis Core. I'm hoping it's worthy of the FFVII name.

On a scale of 5-star film ratings, I'd have to give this one a two.

Final Fantasy VII - Final Review

2011-02-15T09:47:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I started this playthrough of FFVII, but as any reader of this blog would know all my playthroughs tend to be slow. I do things in my own time.

Much could be said about Final Fantasy VII. It is considered by many to be the single greatest RPG of all time. I don't know if I'm willing to go that far, but it is certainly up there. Why is it considered so? The graphics are an odd mix of detailed pallets, and blocky sprites. The translation is meh. The storyline is good, but confusing at spots. So why does this game have such an astounding reputation? Despite it's faults, it was the first of it's kind. For many people, FFVII was the first RPG they'd ever played. The power of the Playstation was able to provide new possibilities to the developers at Square, the eye candy caught the attention of many new consumers. It goes without saying that the old crowd gobbled up the game without a moment's hesitation.

The game was a mix of old and new. Memorable characters, a simply AMAZING sound track, a diverse and beautiful world. Old players would feel right at home, yet also be challenged by many of the new features. One of the most unique aspects of FFVII is the Materia system. Materia are items that enable characters to use magic, as well as improve stats. After battles, you earn EXP as usual, but also AP. AP is what levels up Materia, and makes it even stronger. With the Materia system, you can customize a character's role as easily as equipping items. It is a very versatile system.

The storyline of the game is the very definition of epic. In a nutshell, you have the Shin-ra corporation that basically runs the entire show. They provide all goods and services, they are the governing body - and they are greedy. They are slowly draining the planet of it's energy to provide power and fuel for their projects. They are a military might, with bio-engineered soldiers. One of their greatest warriors blows a gasket and goes out on a rampage, hell-bent of destroying the world and everything on it. It is up to our hero Cloud, he himself with ties to the Shin-ra, and a band of rebels to stop him. I'm not going to go any deeper into the story because it would be far too big to relay here. I've made that mistake in previous playthroughs.

I've played this game a total 3 times now, and this time I made it my goal to experience everything. I leveled my characters to their maximums, learned all of their ultimate abilities, fully explored the world, and defeated all of the optional bosses. (If you want to experience sheer rage - try taking on the optional WEAPONs that were added to the US release - it's no walk in the park).

The storyline and the soundtrack combined make for some very memorable moments. It's definitely a game everyone should try once. It's was so massed produced, finding a copy should be no trouble.

This game is a good starting point for anyone curious about RPG. This review does it no justice.

Here's my breakdown:

Difficulty - 7/10

Story - 10/10

Originality - 10/10

Soundtrack - 10/10

Fun - 9/10

Graphics (considering time of release) - 8/10

Final Fantasy XI - ACP UPDATE

2011-02-04T08:24:00.002-06:00

I finally achieved one of my big personal goals in FFXI. The defeat of the Seed Crystal and the completion of the A Crystalline Prophecy add-on.

This fight game me a lot of trouble since the add-on was released to the game. It made me want to ragequit more than once. Many people think my ranting about the fight is ridiculous. So many gamers have beaten this thing without any trouble. There has been a long-standing specific strategy, that involves a party made of of very specific jobs, etc. Putting together such a party has been difficult for me.

Thanks to my in-game friend Sumer, we were finally able to take it down. Sumer came up with a simple "all-out assault" strategy that was basically:

Stun the boss, and while he's done, kill him before he can wake up.

Sounds simple right? Well this boss has 25,000 hit points. So killing it before the stun wore off is the trick. In fact, the crystal DID wake up with 3% hp and started tearing shit apart. Regardless, the party managed to do it, and as the white mage, I'm proud to say that nobody died.

This add-on concludes the FMV at the beginning of the game, and was very important to me for that reason. I was glad to finally see the conclusion and hear the "Final Fantasy" theme for the first time in FFXI.

Not to mention, I'm enjoying my Royal Redingote.

Back to Normal

2011-01-18T10:22:00.003-06:00

It's been a while. Things have been a little crazy around here.

We've had a couple of big snows and the kids have been home. But it's been lots of fun.

Gabe enjoyed his Christmas video games for a few days. Mario All-Stars went mostly untouched. But he'll appreciate it one day. His big focus has shifted from video games to board games! Which is really cool. we've had a lot of family time lately. My son Michael has really become a fan of the Toy Story franchise. He's watched all three movies, so far they are only thing on TV he's ever cared enough about to watch.

On the gaming front, I'm still playing thru FFVII. I'm taking my time with it this time around, leveling my characters well. I want to unlock all the Limit Breaks for everybody, etc. I'm about halfway thru the game at this point.

In the world of FFXIV, I've actually started a new character, a female. I've been playing her for a while. I made sure all the Christmas and New Year items were snagged. Now i'm just leveling leisurely in the morning, experiencing the storyline as I go. There's not a lot of content in the game at this point. I look at this time in FFXIV's history as the calm before the storm. Something big is gong to happen with this game; good or bad. I'm taking this time to level up and get my characters ready for whatever is going to come next once the "big fixes" are implemented.

On the FFXI front, this is where I've been spending most of my game time. This game totally sucks me in and smothers any other digital productivity I might have. I've really started to cut my teeth on all this new Abyssea content. To bring everyone up to speed, my main job in FFXI is White Mage. My White Mage is now level 81. (9 more to go). This last week i decided to finally switch my support job from Black Mage to Scholar. As of last night my Scholar is now leveled to 49. (Which is the max level I need, since you sub-job is half of your main). Once the level cap is increased to 99 I'll be all set: Whm 99/ Sch 49.

Once I have my level maxed, I'm going to focus on storyline. Finally get those missions out of the way. The sky's the limit these days.

On to semi-related news. SE has announced a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII.... I'm excited. No one else seems to be. Seems the vast majority of folks hated XIII. Whatever.

FFXIV: Post Patch Update

2010-12-19T11:17:00.004-06:00

Well the patch has come and gone. I have to say the changes have been a step in the right direction. But only a small step. There is much work to be done. Until something is implemented to fix the economy the game is going to suffer. Word is, that the economy fix is on the way later this month.

Also included with this update is the Christmas event. With it comes decorated cities, Christmas-style music, and the chance to acquire "Dream Clothes" or Santa outfits. Sadly, even this simple task is made difficult in FFXIV.

In most MMOs seasonal clothes or items are fairly easy to get. You may have to jump through hoops, but there's no special level of skill required to get things like a Santa hat for Christmas, or a Witches hat on Halloween. In XIV, you have to actually craft the items. That is assuming you can manage to acquire all the required materials... sigh.

I bet that next year, it's easier.

Regardless of my complaints, the patch is good enough to renew my interest in the game. So much in fact, that I've put WoW on the shelf again. In fact, It re-sparked my interest in FFXI too.

Yes. I'm back. I logged in last night much to surprise of everyone. More on that in the next post.

Weather Adventures

2010-12-15T08:33:00.003-06:00

Well, It's snowed for the last few days, but the roads are currently clear. I don't anticipate any problem getting to work today. However, getting back might be another story.

Word on the street is around 2-4pm today we're going to get blasted with an ice storm, unlike any seen in over 15 years. This will be a new experience for me. I love my new job at work, but not enough to have to spend the night there.

Final Fantasy XIV - Patch Day

2010-12-15T08:28:00.003-06:00

Today will be the first FFXIV patch since the shakeup. SE replaced most of the lead developers last week. Now I know that this patch really cannot be reflective on the new team. It was developed by the old crew. Simple logic will tell you that.

However, in eyes of most people this will be the first tastes of the "new FFXIV". This patch was hailed by the previous development team as "the big one". So we'll have to see.

SE definitely needs to do something if they want to have even a shred of a chance at saving the reputation of this game. FFXIV currently sports 2 stars on Amazon... And after the negative press that XIII got (a game I personally loved to death), they really need to hit a home run. If not with FFXIV, with a new title, quick. Sadly, the development time for a new single player FF game is typically 4-5 years....

A classic in the stocking

2010-12-15T08:25:00.002-06:00

Shhhh. Don't tell him. But I got my son one of those limited edition Mario All-Star compilations for the Wii. He'll also be getting Super Paper Mario and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Let's hope he can appreciate the classics that are tied up in this Mario bundle. We actually have them all on the Virtual Console already, so we'll have to see. He'll thank me, one day....

Final Fantasy XIV - Progress Report 1

2010-12-05T13:41:00.003-06:00

Meet Kijimuna, he is my character in FFXIV. Let's talk a bit about FFXIV...

It's no secret how hyped up I was for this game. If you read my previous posts, you'll also read about how underwhelmed I was upon release. Well a few months later, the verdict is in. This game COULD have been the next big MMO. Instead, I feel that SE rushed it to release and it has failed miserably.

Do I think it will work out eventually. Yes. I have a feeling that by this spring/summer the game will be solid and will have a strong cult following. But it has already blown whatever chance at true success it had in the marketplace. The reviews are astoundingly negative. The press has torn the game a new asshole more times that I can count. The game is in such bad shape, that SE has extended the free trial twice already, and everyone is speculating a third time is well on the way.

At the release the game suffered from a number of terrible problems:

Atrocious lag, Clunky interface, Server crashes, Prohibitive character creation/server assignment policies, confusing game economy, and finally bad performance on all but top tier computers.

The hype about all these problems became so bad that the in-game population has more than halved since release. Honestly, I have not spent any serious time with the game since September. I'm a Final Fantasy fanboy, so that is REALLY saying something....

This has SE in sheer panic mode.

In their defense, they are really listening to people this time around, it seems like they realized they screwed up big and they are in the process of listening to everyone's pain points and fixing them asap.

Already in November we have been given a patch that has relieved a lot of the lag, and interface issues. There's more to come in December. In my opinion, the December update is either going to save or destroy the remaining fanbase in the game.

As for me, I was there on day one. I bought the collectors edition. I'm going to give this game another serious chance tomorrow on my day off. I played a lot of it immediately after release, and got disgusted quick. But, I'm going to turn over a new leaf with it and see what's what. I'll let you know what I find out.

In a nutshell: So far - complete disaster. New patch applied, giving game second chance tomorrow. If no go, third chance after December update. Three strikes and it's out.

Updates, Updates and Mo Updates!

2010-12-05T13:24:00.002-06:00

I've been out of it for a while - but I have a moment to catch my breath and make a quick post or two.

As usual with me, this time of year is hectic. This year even more so. I've all but quit playing FFXIV - I'll post more on that later, and started playing World of Warcraft. I know, blasphemy, right?

The main reason I've been absent is: I got my old job back. The wonderful job that allows me to listen to music and podcasts all day and type emails to clients instead of arguing with them over the telephone. It is GLORIOUS!!! Things have changed a lot since I last worked there, but I'm getting back into the groove of things. My stress level has decreased by a large amount already. Now that I'm starting to feel better mentally, I know I need to start working on the physical side of things as well. I'm going to make that a serious commitment in the new year. Perhaps even sooner.

In the obsession department, here's some things that have dominated my brain lately:

Kinect - I saw this thing in action on TV and I'm very impressed. When Microsoft announced the Kinect, I dismissed it off as a Wii rip-off. I've since changed my mind, and I really wanted to get one for the family this Christmas, but they are sold out everywhere.

Disney Movies - Don't ask... seriosuly, I was never a big big disney fan in my youth. I liked Mikey Mouse and all that, but the feature films, take it or leave it. For some unknown reason, my wife joined the Disney Movie club and I found myself getting into it. Disney knows how to play me. My "collector" personality is intrigued by all the "rare, last chance" movies they dangle in front of me. The fact that Disney has opened up to Blu-Ray presents me with an interesting opportunity. They are trickling out all the animated features on Blu-Ray over the next several years. I'm some what ashamed to admit that I've already purchased all the classics available: Snow White, Fantastia, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast.

In a few months Alice and Wonderland and Chicken Little will drop. Ugh. Another moneysink. But it will be a nice collection for my family.

Warcraft - In a nutshell, FFXIV did not last long with me, and I found myself longing for an MMO again. I was close to coming back to FFXI, but since I've left, a lot of my FFXI friends have also left. Everyone in the world plays WoW, and there's a new expansion around the corner. I got sucked in. I'm even reading the books.

Nintendo - Sitting at work I found myself revisiting several old podcasts that I listened to years ago. One of them is GoNintendo. Simply listening to these old friends (as I consider them) got me jazzed. It's time to reacquaint myself with the Wii.

On a final note. The tree is up and Christmas is around the corner.

Final Fantasy VII - Prelude

2010-10-05T13:47:00.003-05:00

Finally my FF series playthrough has brought me to the Big Daddy of the Final Fantasy series: Final Fantasy VII.

Probably the most recognized and most beloved entry in the franchise, FFVII is hailed by most as THE definitive RPG. In way I disagree. The game is certainly a "role playing" style game, but it does not have that classic fantasy feel to it. The game takes place in a very industrialized environment. Now, I'm not complaining, in fact I love this game just as much as anyone. But I feel like the definition of a classic RPG is "fantasy setting" which this game is not. Despite the fact that it's a truly excellent game, I think it's highly overrated.

This game was released in 1997 for the original Sony Playstation. It the first in the Third-Generation of the Final Fantasy series. Despite being released on the PS, I first experienced this game on my Windows PC. a year after it's release it was ported to Windows and that's when I first got my hands on it.

For the sake of this playthrough I'll be playing the PSN version on my Playstation Portable. This version is identical to the original North American release. It contains the complete original game, plus the North American only super-bosses.

In a nutshell, this game focuses on the main character Cloud. Cloud is an ex-member of a military group called SOLDIER. He has a very mysterious past that is revealed throughout the length of the game. He has gone mercenary and when the game begins he has hired on to a group of rebels known as AVALANCHE. AVALANCHE is small "terrorist" organization rebelling against the powerful Shinra organization. Shinra is essentially the governing body of most of the world. They are based in the large metropolitan city known as Midgar. For the citizens of Midgar there is little else of interest in the rest of the world. Shinra supply Midgar with power and entertainment. There is little desire to look beyond the protected walls of the city.

Class warfare in Midgar is a big issue. The richest of citizens live on the upper plates of the city. While the poorest live in the slums below. AVALANCHE believes that that the power Shinra is using to run Midgar is the very lifeblood of the planet itself. In effect, Shinra is destroying the world. Bent on exposing the truth behind Shinra AVALANCE has taken up the mission of hit and run strikes against the corporate giant, all the while trying to expose the truth to the citizens of Midgar. The environmentalist message is clear. Whatever, I ignore it.

It is in this world that FFVII takes place. Much like FFVI, this game contains a lot of dialogue. So much so that detailing my playthrough step by step is going to be near impossible. Much like I did with FFXIII, I will be blogging my progress only, and then offering a brief summary at the end of the game detailing my achievements. There has been much written throughout the years on this game that anything you could ever want to know can be found in a simply Google search.

I have already started playing this title, and at this point I'm about 15% into the game. I had forgotten how awkward the translation of the game can be at times (I've only played it 2 times before), but despite that, I'm enjoying it.

I'll check in again soon.

Final Fantasy XIV: First Impressions

2010-10-05T12:35:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I've been playing FFXIV since the early release on 9/22 and here is what I think so far. It's an EXCELLENT title, and a real next-generation style game. But it does not some tweaking.

Let me start by saying that this game is getting A LOT of negative press. This biggest complaints that the media seem to have are the registration process and the "clunky interface". While the community seems to complain most about the in-game lag and the method used to buy and sell items to other players.

I will take a moment to address these issues. The registration process for me was simple. The instructions are right there if you're willing to read them. Not to mention SE made several posts and even sent emails out to beta participants regarding the proper way to register the retail copy.

The interface is vastly different than most MMOs on the market and mildly different from FFXI. So for a majority of new users and people coming from FFXI it simply takes a little getting used to. For people coming from other MMOs it is a major learning curve.

As for the other two items mentioned: lag and (as we'll call it) lack of an auction house. I have two things to say. I agree and I agree. Both of these are issues that really need to be addressed. But I have good faith in SE that they will both be resolved. Yes, I do feel that the game was rushed to the market, and that's a little sad. But if that is truly the case, then they are doing pretty darn good at keeping things stable.

My computer is technically not powerful enough to run the game, yet I manage to to with a few well placed tweaks and configuration changes. Even tho I don't meet the requirements, I do find the game to be quite playable. The retail version has yet to crash on me. I do experience a lot of lag in popular fighting areas, in some cases this has lead to my character being knocked out when I didn't think it was warranted. But, I suck it up. I do feel that it will get better. I hope it will.... I'll be reporting back with an update on this in a couple of weeks.

As far as the auction house debate, I agree there needs to be a better way to buy/sell items to other players. Currently, you can hire an NPC to stand around in a designated area and sell your goods. The problem is, these areas are littered with hundreds of similar npcs, and to find what you want you have to individually check each and every one. It's very frustrating and time consuming. There needs to be an easier way to search for the things you want. I fear that Se is going to push back quite a bit on this. As they designed this "retainer" system for a reason, and they want to see it work. However, the playerbase is screaming so loud about this issue, that I doubt SE is going to let it fall on deaf ears. Only time will tell.

I'm enjoying the game quite a bit, but I do feel it needs a lot of polish. I have a feeling by the time the PS3 version comes out in March the game will be where it needs to be. I just worry that in the meantime it's reputation will be severely tarnished. Time will tell.

I'll continue to make frequent posts regarding FFXIV here on this blog, but since this is an MMO and not a single player game I cannot vouch to their frequency. If you are interested in seeing what I'm doing in game, you can follow my "character blog" here:

kijimunaffxiv.blogspot.com

A brief introduction. I make a Lalafell character named Kijimuna Kudaka. Again, like with FFXI, this is an Okinawa reference. Kijimuna are the Okinawa version of a fairy or gremlin. Kudaka is the name of a sacred religious site on one of the southern most parts of the Ryu Kyu islands.

I made my character on the server of Selbina (a server named after a town in FFXI).

At first I was very confused by several aspects in the game, but it really doesn't take long to get the hang of things. The more I've figured out the better the game has become. It's a shame that many people are not giving this game a chance. I feel that this game is going to have a very small niche audience, much like FFXI did. But honestly, that's ok with me.

Final Fantasy XIV - Prelude (the Beta)

2010-10-01T16:03:00.006-05:00

It has arrived! The fourteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series, and the second game to be online. This is the game that no one saw coming. SE announced this much to the surprise of fans all over the world. For a long time FFXI players had heard rumors of a "sequel" to Final Fantasy XI, and finally after years of waiting FFXIV was revealed.

While not a sequel per se, FFXIV is very similar in many respects to FFXI, but it is also very different. During the announcement for XIV, Square Enix made it very clear that this was going to be a different type of MMO. They really wanted to get away from the "hard-core" image that FFXI has earned over the years. To accomplish this, XIV was to strive for casual play, cutting edge graphics, and a completely new play experience. To help make XI players feel at home, the playable characters were designed to look familiar to those in XI, while also being much more customizable.

The entire soundtrack for the game is composed by long time FF composer Nobou Uematsu. The man responsible for some of the most magical and memorable tracks in the series.

Needless to say, I was very excited by this announcement. I have been playing FFXIV since the closed beta. I'll be honest, at first I was very concerned. I felt like the game was being rushed to meet a release deadline. The system requirements for this game are unusually high, and my computer could barely handle the game on it's lowest settings. Fortunately, by the time the final stages of the beta arrived the performance of the game has improved dramtically. Still, I have to turn many of the setting down very low to make the game playable. I really feel like I'm missing out on one of the best aspects of the game, the graphics.

In the early stages of the beta, I was also very confused. The interface for the game was clunky, I couldn't make heads or tails out of the storyline, and the scripting was filled with typos. I was afraid the game was destined to fail. The mass-gaming public was not going to give a second look to this game if it did not deliver on day-one. However, by the time the open beta rolled out, I found much of this to be vastly improved. In fact, once "I got it", meaning- once the concept of the game clicked with me I found myself REALLY REALLY enjoying the title. Actually, I enjoyed it so much, that I stopped playing in the beta as I didn't want to grow too attached to my character only to have it deleted before the official release.

As I type this, the game saw an early release via the Collector's Edition (which I purchased) on 9/22, and the main official release yesterday on 9/30. I've been playing the game since day 1 of the early preview and I am loving it. I'll be posting my Initial Thoughts in the coming days. I felt the need to continue tradition by making a post about the beta as I did with FFXI.

Stay tuned.

Final Fantasy XI Retrospective - Part 10 - Nakijin's Farewell

2010-09-21T21:39:00.002-05:00

For what might be my last post regarding FFXI, I wanted to share this little video-collage of memories that I created. The following video features a series of my favorite screenshots from my time in Final Fantasy XI, paired with the main theme for the game; "Distant Worlds".

It almost makes me tear up.

Final Fantasy XI Retrospective - Part 9 - Abyssea, the Future of FFXI

2010-09-21T21:10:00.000-05:00

2010 brought big changes to FFXI. The next online FF game, Final Fantasy XIV was announced and the playerbase feared the end of their beloved XI was near. It was then that SE dropped the bombshell: 2010 would see three new downloadable scenarios allowing characters to explore a new parallel world known as Abyssea. It was also in these addons that the level cap would be gradually increased from 75 to.... 99! This was the first time since 2005 that the level cap was going to be adjusted, and taking it to 99 was a very radical step.

This sent the FFXI community on fire. Some players loved the idea, others loathed it. The game had over time developed a very specific balance and changing the max level was going to turn the gameplay strategy on it's head.

At the time of this writing two of the three scenarios have been released: Vision of Abyssea and Scars of Abyssea. The final chapter Heroes of Abyssea has yet to see the light of day. As I type this the max level in the game is now 85.

It was shortly after the first add-on that I decided to quit playing FFXI. Not out of any sort of protest, in fact I welcomed the changes. I didn't get to spend much time in Abyssea, but I liked what I saw. Oddly enough, it was a bad experience in an Abyssea party that was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for me. That experience combined with the fact that I had now been playing FFXI straight for over 5 years, and the upcoming excitement around FFXIV lead me to the idea that it was simply time for me to put my adventures in FFXI to an end.

I cherish the time I spent playing FFXI. I met many wonderful people, I reunited with old friends from real life, and it was a hobby that both my wife and myself came to enjoy. But for the foreseeable future, I'm done. I'm still interested in the development of the game. I follow it on a daily basis and I still participate actively in the community. But I've decided for the time being at least, to give Nakijin some well needed rest. In two short hours, Final Fantasy XIV goes on sale to those that pre-ordered the collector's edition, and I look forward to once again starting from day one in a new world crafted by Square Enix. This time I won't take a 2 year break and spend the next 4 years playing catch up with everyone else!

In my opinion FFXI really didn't mature into the game that it could have been until the last two years or so. It has definitely always been a niche game, targeted to the hardcore audience. The typical player is simply not willing to invest the time or dedication that one needs to really be successful in FFXI. I was glad to see SE make some changes they did to the game in the last few years. Things like Treasure Caskets, Field Manuals, Magian Trials, and Abyssea parties have really added to the enjoyment factor of many players. The game is definitely going in the right direction. Perhaps, if FFXIV doesn't go the way I hope, I will return. I do have a strong suspicion that FFXI has many more years ahead of it. I also suspect that most the changes coming to the game are going to be for the better, and more driven by player request then they were in the past.

I'm not going to be posting a scorecard for this game simply because, with it being an online title that changes all the time- trying to rate it would simply be unfair. Plus, MMOs are really a matter of preference than anything else. It's safe to say that I love this game very much. I've logged more hours of gametime with this title than any other game in existence. Months and months of playtime were put into this thing if you total it all up. I'm almost ashamed to admit it! A measurable chunk of my LIFE was spent in Vana'diel.

This game single-handely changed my opinion about MMO style games. It even inspired me to start my own FF fan site, which in case I've never mentioned it is www.mogfather.com .

That being said, stay tuned for my final post regarding Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Final Review

2010-09-21T20:49:00.003-05:00

Well here we are for my final review of the After Years. It's been a long time coming and I apologize. I started this game at the first of the year and stopped playing after the release of Final Fantasy XIII. Once I had finished that title, I picked this one back up.

As I mentioned back in January, (Wow, has it really been that long!!!) this is a Wii Ware title. Actually, in Japan is was released on Mobile Phones, but here in the US we received it in an episodic format on the Wii. That alone is a very unusual approach. I see what SE was going for, but all in all, I'm not sure how well it worked out. I wasn't really a fan of it.

I actually didn't start playing the game until all of it had been released, but I feel that if I had been playing as it came out, its possible that I would have lost interest having to wait for the next chapter to come out. I understand that the concept of the "Challenge Dungeons" was put in place to help curb this lack of interest. It gave players something to do while waiting for the next installment. But to me the dungeons were not that fun and I looked at them more as a necessary evil.

The game introduced an interesting form of combat called the Band System. A "band" is essentially a combo attack performed by two or more characters. Part of the difficulty is figuring out what character and what actions will go together to actually achieve a successful Band. Once a Band has been discovered the game will remember it and it becomes an selectable option in the battle menu. There a tons of hidden Bands available throughout the game, one of my very favorite is called "Final Fantasy". This band is a combo attack only avail if the party consists of members from the original Final Fantasy IV title. I found the Band System to be one of the more innovative features in the After Years.

The game's story in the beginning is extremely confusing. It's like Pulp Fiction done wrong. It starts at the end, and flashes back, right, left, down and sideways with each additional chapter that you play. It isn't until the final two chapters that things really tend to come together. The game does contain quite a new nods and inside jokes for players of the original title, that was something I really enjoyed and welcomed. The developers here really knew the original game well and did it justice in this tribute. As much as I gripe about the swiss-cheese style plotline. It really does come together in the end in a big way. The concept of The Creator, the True Moon, and the Crystals is a big twist ending that I didn't see coming. I just feel that there should have been more clues along the way.

The graphics and soundtrack are pretty much identical to the old 16 version of Final Fantasy IV, and rightfully so in my opinion. It's hard to rate them by today's standards tho, so in my scoring I'll put them on the same playing field as I would any other native 16-bit title. The soundtrack is mostly the same as the original game with a few exceptions the Mysterious Girl theme is a catchy new addition. I wish SE would release it for download or make it part of a soundtrack. I have all of the FF soundtracks up to this point, yet this one little melody is not in my collection.

My last gripe about the game is unusual difficulty. Some chapters are much harder than others, and for seemingly no reason. The very first entry has an insanely high encounter rate for monster battles. While the next chapter does not. Several of the chapters are very short and pose hardly any challenge at all, while others, such as the Lunarian's Tale are extremely difficult. The final chapter is definitely for FF veterans only. I did enjoy the game and I think so would most hardcore FF fans. But I worry that the casual fan would throw their hands up and say "screw this". In a nutshell, great game with an oldschool FF feel, it's a gift for fans of the original FF4, but it might be a bit hard to swallow for people that are not.

Difficulty 8/10

Story 9/10

Originality 8/10

Soundtrack 7/10

Fun 6/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 8/10

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - The Crystal's Tale

2010-09-20T13:24:00.000-05:00

Here we go, the final chapter. Before we begin, let me state for the record: This chapter DOES redeem the entire game. I was pleasantly surprised.. Bravo and job well done!

This chapter starts at the end of Rydia's tale. The Man in Black (aka: Golbez) appears on the deck of the Falcon with Rydia, Luca, and Edge. Edge is very suspicious of Golbez's sudden appearance and his demands that the party journey to Baron. The new moon had turned a deep red and seems to be descending towards the planet. Meteors begin to fall everywhere.... All hell is breaking loose.

The party arrives in Baron to find the castle surrounded by an impenetrable forcefield. The city of Baron is overrun with zombies! However, the party soon discovers that the townspeople are hiding in their homes. After meeting with Cid's family and Rosa's mother, they pledge to get to the bottom of the mystery.

At this point in the game, I realized that the entire world was now open to explore. There's a lot of odd things going on... The world is in ruin. The looming moon is blocking out most of the sunlight, meteors are striking everywhere. There are several unusual looking places to investigate. For the sake of time and simplicity I won't detail them all, but I will say that there are several new items to be discovered as well as a large number of "tails" to collect.

Tails can be traded to the tail collector later in the game for a variety of awesome weapons and armor. The Small Tails can be redeemed for a Rainbow Tail, which in turn can be redeemed for a Limit Ring (which allows your characters to hit for upwards of 9999 damage!!) So it's worth to hunt them out.

During the exploration period you discover several interesting things:

In village of Mist, Rydia finds that the spirit of her mother is guarding the tiny village. The voice of her mother tells her to go a re-unite all the stray eidolons.

In Kaipo, the party finds Yang and Ursula both sick and unconscious. The Sylph are worried that Yang has been sabotaged and they are raising hell in Fabul. Visiting Fabul, the party meets up with Yang's wife who gives them a Frying Pan (FFIV reference) and a Ladle. These two items will awaken Yang and Ursula. Once the two of these characters are unlocked, Rydia gains the assistance of the Sylph!!

The city of Troia is frozen solid. It is there that the party encounters Shiva, still under the control of the Mysterious Girl's spell. During the battle, Rydia is able to get through to Shiva and Shiva once again lends her magic to Rydia. Two down! now that Troia is restored, Palom and Leonora join the team.

Back in Eblan, Ifrit is burning down the Kingdom. Edge's attempt to defeat the Eidolon fails. He see's a vision of his arch-nemesis Rubicante (hated, but respected by Edge). During the vision Edge understands what must be done to finally defeat Ifrit. Together with Rydia, the two band their powers together and bring Ifrit back to the side of good.

Next stop for me was Mysidia. When the party arrives on the scene, there are bodies laying everywhere. As Rydia and co. approach the tower in the center of town they are ambushed by Ramuh! More the same ensues, at some point during the battle, Ramuh snaps out of the spell he is under and rejoin Rydia! The name of the game at this point is re-acquiring Rydia's summons in case you couldn't guess.

Agart is up next where we confront Titan. This is no piece of cake, he summons an earthquake that swallows the party whole. So the team has to climb their way up only to challenge him again. This time, however, Porom shows up and saves the day with her Float spell. Now, floating in the air, the party is immune to Titan's earth shaking attack and wins him over. Porom collapses at this point and the party brings her to Falcon to rest from her wounds.

Now that we've been everywhere, I take the party back to Mist where Rydia's mother, the Mist Dragon finally joins the party. With nowhere else to go really, I head back to Baron. Sure enough, with all the Eidolons together, the forcefield is no more!

Scene change! Flash to Ceodore's party - Ceodore, Kain, Rosa and Cid step up to challenge the possessed Cecil. A battle ensues, Cecil gets help from a spellbound Odin- Is there no end to this madness!!! Half-way thru the fight Odin comes to his senses and snap's Cecil out of his possession. At just that moment Rydia's party rushes in, once everyone is reunited and up to speed, the Mysterious Girl appears.... This time the companions actually defeat her in battle, only to have twelve more "mysterious girls" appear. WTF. The girls dare the companions to meet them on the Lunar Surface and then they vanish.

Well, with the path all but laid out for the party, Golbez calls the Lunar Whale into action and the party heads for the moon!

On the Whale, the party discovers that Cecil is not himself. His paladin abilities are gone and he seems to have trouble remembering things. Unsure of what to do, the party returns to the crater where Golbez encountered the Girl earlier. This is the final dungeon and it's filled with all sorts of beasties from every NES based Final Fantasy games. It is also in this dungeon that Rydia reunites with Leviathan and Asura. It's a long long trek, but at the end of the dungeon that party encounters a rather unexpected person: Cecil the Dark Knight. Much like Kain, Cecil's dark-half seems to be on the loose. This fight is interesting, the Dark Cecil can nearly slay each party member in a single hit. However, Cecil intervenes and blocks his every move. The Dark Knight turns his attention towards Cecil and is about to strike a mortal blow when Golbez jumps in front and sacrifices himself for Cecil.

An interesting note here, is that normally Golbez will die at this point. But if you party consists of Cecil, Ceodore, Rosa, and Golbez he is spared and will not die. Knowing this, I was able to save him.

With the Dark Knight vanquished, Cecil's memory and holy powers are restored. He acquires the holy sword Excalibur.

The end is near. As the party continues they encounter all eight crystals. Each one containing one of the many NES-era Final Fantasy bosses. The boss fights occurred in this order:

Lich, Marilith, Kraken, Tiamat (FF1) - Beelzebeub, Astaroth, King Behemoth, Iron Giant (FF2) - Two Headed Dragon, Echidna, Cereberus, Ahriman (FF3) - Gilgamesh, Atomos (FFV) - The Phantom Train, Ultros (FF6).

It's also worth mentioning that there are 4 completely optional super-bosses in this dungeon as well. Of course, in my nature I did not stop until they were defeated: Omega and Shinryu are the two hardest, the other two are Ultima Weapon and Deathgaze.

Finally, the party reaches and unusual area filled with "mysterious girls" floating in glass chambers. They appear to be clones in some sort of stasis. One of the pods opens and a little child "Girl" approaches Rydia and asks for her "orders". Confused, Rydia tells the girl to sit down and behave herself.

Not long after this set of events one of the mature Mysterious Girls appears. She reveals herself to be a Maenad. A higher form of evolved being under the service to the Creator. She mentions that she is impressed with the party's ability to make it this far and she summons none other than Bahamut, King of Summons to annihilate the party!

This fight is rough, but if you can make it long enough the result is same as all the others. Bahamut comes to his senses. He turns on the Maenad, who is shocked to see that she has lost control of the Eidolon. After well placed Mega-Flare. The Maenad is no more.

With no other place to go except the door in front of them, the party descends to the deepest level of the Red Moon. At the end they see a strange and space-age style hatch or chamber. After whacking at the hatch for a few rounds a strange infant-like alien being appears. This is The Creator. He explains that he is highest form of evolved being in the entire universe. He explains that he sent the crystals to the Blue Planet to observe and help speed up the evolution of all lifeforms. However, according to his judgement, the races of the Blue Planet and it's moon did not achieve the level of evolution that he had hoped. Therefore the declares his experiment to be a failure. He explains his intention to destroy the Blue Planet and everyone on it.

(Side note: What's really going on here is he is the last of his kind. Out of desperation for companionship he is trying to evolve lifeforms on other planets to be equal with himself. It is quite clear by the end of his rant that his long isolation has caused him to go completely insane.)

The battle with the Creator ends in total failure. The party is obliterated. The scene changes to the planet below where everyone is rooting for our heros on the moon. Their prayers are heard by the crystals and our heros are re-awakened. Renewed and ready to do battle, they again turn to face the Creator. This time, you actually have a chance to win. It's a tough fight. Honestly, unlike any fight in either FFIV or The After Years so far. However, it is do-able. Finally, as the Creator is defeated he begins to slowly explode, bringing down the entire "Moon" around the party. The only thing left to do is RUN FOR IT.

As the party backtracks their way out of the moon, the Creator will occasionally catch up to them a short fight with the dying Creator will ensue. Eventually, as the party nears their exit the dying Creator corners them. However, this time the some of the Maenads appear to lend a hand. With the Creator defeated, he no longer has control of them. It is their Meteor spell that destroys the Creator once and for all. In their last moments the Maenads beg Rydia to take the little girl with her. They explain that she is the last of their kind. Rydia grabs the little Maenad girl and escapes with her.

That ends the playable portion of the After Years! All the that's left is to watch the ending. I'm not going to go into too much detail here as it would take up another sizable chunk of text. But the ending is what you would expect from a Final Fantasy title. Scenes showing each character and what they are up to after the events of the game unfold. A few interesting tidbits that I will mention; Rydia names the little girl Cuore and raises her as a summoner in the village of Mist. Kain is named the new Captain of the Redwings and takes on as trainer to Ceodore. Palom decides not to pursue his lifelong desire to become a Sage, but rather to stay and help defend Mysidia. The elder names Palom and Porom as the new leaders of the city. Golbez decides to depart in the Lunar Whale to see what has become of FuSoYa and the other Lunarians, thus leaving an opening for a possible sequel? Who knows. All in all a happy ending.

Stay tuned for my final review of the After Years.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Lunarian's Tale

2010-09-19T09:13:00.000-05:00

Wrapping up my playthrough before the upcoming release of FFXIV... we now have the short but sweet; Lunarian's Tale.

This chapter takes a turn for the different. It starts with the "Man in Black" that we've seen already. He is revealed to actually be Golbez, brother of Cecil. (I suspected as much.) He awakes from his stasis on the moon but senses a disturbance. He notices that all the other Lunarian's are still asleep, as except one. FuSoYa is missing.

Golbez explores the lunar passage looking for Fu So Ya, and on the way encounters monsters... Hmm. Once he reaches the Crystal Palace, he finds that something is definitely wrong. The crystals are glowing an odd amber color. Golbez does find FuSoYa in the Crystal Chamber also. FuSoYa informs Golbez that a recent meteor has struck the lunar surface near Bahamut's Lair. There is a feeling of danger and urgency in the air... The two of the them team up to investigate.

Upon reaching the impact crater, they team encounters the Mysterious Girl. She demands that the two of them turn over the Lunar Crystals to her. Of course, they refuse- she summons the eidolon Asura to attack them and makes her escape. Once they team has dispatched the eidolon, they progresses on to Bahamut's Lair. There they find that the great dragon king has been turned to stone! What is going on!!!!

Disturbed by the recent events, the team decides to head back to the palace to defend the crystals. When they arrive, they find that the lunar crystals have been drained of their light. The Mysterious Girl once again appears and this time with Leviathan in tow. She cryptically explains that she no longer needs the crystals and once again performs her disappearing act.

One by one the crystal's slowly begin to explode! This girl sure travels fast. Geez! The team decides to send a prayer to the spirit of their departed friend Kluya, the time might be right to return to earth below and warn the other. They pray for the return of the Lunar Whale to escort them back to the planet's surface.

In the meantime, fearing for the safety of the other Lunarian's, the party quickly rushes back to the sleeping chamber down in the lunar core. As they progress, there is the occasional cutscene showing the destruction of yet another crystal. All the while, we see the spirit of Kluya (father of Cecil and Golbez) sending the Lunar Whale back to the moon from it's hiding place deep below the sea. Finally, just as they are about to reach their destination, the final crystal shatters. At that very moment, the apparition of a long gone, but not forgotten enemy appears; Zeromus! Without the crystal seal in place, the spirit of his rage and malice is able to manifest itself.

That battle with Zeromus's Malice is a tough one, but the heros succeed in defeating him. With his dying breath, the boss prepares his signature Big Bang attack. In effort to save Golbez from the certain death that is about to occur, FuSoYa teleports Golbez away from the battle, taking the brunt of the attack.

When the warp spell is complete, Golbez finds himself on the bridge of the Lunar Whale. Golbez decides that he must return to the planet below and warn the other heros about what has occurred on the moon. We are treated to a series of flashbacks, and then the chapter ends...

Ok.

Not sure what to say about this. As I mentioned before, little pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together, but overall it's confusing as hell. With only one more chapter to go, I'm curious to see how its all going to fit together.

Before I end this post I wanted to mention that yes, the Hummingway's are still alive and kicking on the Lunar Surface. In fact, as you may have suspected, they are running a challenge dungeon. The big surprise; there are two in this chapter!

The first is relatively short. After a few runs I managed to get an item called the Challenger's Proof. With this item in hand you can then visit the second and much more difficult dungeon.

The second dungeon ends with a fight against the robotic mega-boss: Armstrong. This guy is a real pain. He is susceptible to magic, but every time you hit him with a magical attack his damage output increases.

I had to take the long route several times and go melee and healing only.

One more chapter left. I will tackle it Tuesday.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Edward's Tale

2010-09-12T13:11:00.003-05:00

Returning once again with a review for Edward's Tale.

Edward has been ruling over Damcyan since the end of FFIV - during that time his kingdom has lived in relative peace. However, Edward is still haunted by the memory of his former love Anna.

Once word of the mysterious meteorite reaches the the kingdom of Damcyan - Edward's secretary Harley decides to go investigate. Gone for many days with no report back - Edward becomes concerned and sets off on a quest with three of his guards to investigate. They meet her at the crash site where they discover all of the strange events surrounding the meteor.

Upon returning to Damcyan, they find an emissary from Baron waiting for them. The messenger warns Edward not to interfere and to leave the investigation of the meteor to the Kingdom of Baron. Growing ever more suspicious, Edward decides to pay a visit to Cecil himself and together with Harley and the soldiers trek towards the town of Kaipo to embark by boat to Baron. Upon arriving, it becomes apparent that Harley has fallen ill with Desert Fever. In a rush to save her, Edward journeys to the Antlion's Den to retrieve the medicinal Sand Pearl.

Once Harley is recovered the party boards the ship heading for Baron. On the way they see Yang's boat headed the same direction. However, they notice that he never reaches his destination. The party is greeted by Baron's soliders and are shown a rather cold form of hospitality. Cecil does not seem himself and blows Edward off, sending him back to Damcyan. Edward, ever suspicious offers Cecil a display of flowers as a gift. In return Edward is given an ornate giftbox.

Back on the boat, Edward declares that the man they met and not Cecil but rather an impostor. He explains the flowers he left are really "whisperweed", a plant capable of long-range communication. This is something that Cecil would have recognized immediately. He also suspects the gift box given to him by Cecil to really be a "Carnelian Signet", a bomb disgused as a valuable relic. The same type that destroyed the city of Mist all those years ago.

Using the Whisperweed to eavesdrop, he hears a conversation between "Cecil" and the Mysterious Girl. Learning that their true goal is steal Damcyan's crystal, Edward rushes back to his kingdom only to encounter the giant whirlpool containing Levianthan (the same that captured Yang's ship). The chapter ends here.

A short little chapter, that once again fills in a few minor details in the plot. With Edward being the last main character of FFIV - we have only two chapters remaining: The Lunarian's tale, and the Crystal's tale. Perhaps the final bits of the story will come together soon.

On a final note: Edward's challenge dungeon is the strangest yet. In it are a series of chests, each requiring a certain amount of gil to open. Only gil earned inside the dungeon can be used. So you find yourself constantly fighting monsters, only to gain gil required to get the best items.

Two more chapters to go...

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

2010-09-12T12:46:00.003-05:00

I was a litte delayed in writing this review. I actually finished this title a week or so ago :P

Finally we have the first Castlevania title for the Nintendo DS. "Dawn of Sorrow". This game is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow for the GBA. It takes place 1 year after Aria - where we find Soma has lost most of his powers of dominance over time. It turns out that Soma is now the target of a cult - hellbent on destroying him so that they can bring about the resurrection of the dark spirit that his body contains.

Sadly, Soma's girlfriend Mina is abducted and used as bait in an attempt to lure him into their hideout. Soma must journey into the lair of the cult (which is a replica of Castlevania) all the while re-awakening his slumbering power of dominance. During his quest he encounters potential candidates who will receive his power upon his defeat. One-by-one Soma will overcome them until ultimately he faces off against the final and most cunning candidate.

During his journey, Soma realizes that in order to finally put this evil power to rest he must journey into the Abyss itself - there he defeats the demonlord; Menace. This victory finally brings about the end of Dracula's curse once and for all.

In many ways, this game is very similar to it's predecessor. The graphics are similar and the game has the same over-all feel. The dual-screen config allows for one screen to be a dedicated map and equipment area, while the game action takes place on a separate screen. The most innovative, and also the most annoying aspect of this game is a the Magic Seal system. At the end of every "boss fight", Soma must seal away the evil spirit by tracing a magical glyph into the air. This is done using the touch screen of the DS. The glyph is a predetermined symbol inside of a pentagram. It is VERY touchy and sensitive. Many boss fights were failed simply because I had to keep re-doing the seal at the end.

All in all, a good title. The puzzles are interesting, and the graphics are a step up from the previous handheld titles. The playcontrol is actually a bit improved over the previous entry, but my main complaint was the stupid magic seal/touch screen debacle - so the playcontrol score I give is going to take a big hit.The soundtrack, while not bad, did leave a little to be desired. At the time of this writing, this title appears to be the last chronologically in the Castlevania series.

1094 : Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Leon Belmont vs. Walter & Death

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1748: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Juste Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1830: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Nathan Graves vs Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

2035: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Soma Cruz vs. Castlevania

2036: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Soma Cruz vs. Dark Lord Candidates & Menace

Difficulty 7/10

Story 9/10

Originality 7/10

Soundtrack 7/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 9/10

Playcontrol 7/10

Ghost Adventures

2010-09-09T08:48:00.003-05:00

Ok, while I'm deviating from my normal video game posts...

Let me just make a quick post about how excited I am about the new season of Ghost Adventures that starts next Friday on the Travel Channel.

This show has been a favorite of mine since we discovered it last September. After weeks of watching it, my whole family was hooked. Then on Halloween last year, this team of paranormal investigators conducted a live investigation that included audience participation. It was amazing.

Over the last year, my household has caught up with every episode and we're eagerly awaiting the new season. Tomorrow, Travel Channel will air two special "catch up" episodes - it's a safe bet that even tho I've seen all this footage already - I'll be tuning in.

Geeking out the next generation

2010-09-09T08:23:00.001-05:00

I'm sure I've mentioned here before that as a kid I was big fan of Dungeons & Dragons. Long before I ever saw my first RPG video game, I used to pour over my collection of D&D books. My biggest problem with D&D was finding mature-minded people to play with. I was introduced to the game by some members of my mother's writers guild in 1989. A handful of young Air Force guys used to come over on Fridays for a home cooked meal, and they'd stick around afterwards and teach me how to player D&D.

Back then, it was a time of transition. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was coming out with it's 2nd edition, and the game we played was an odd blend of both. The guys in the group knew 1st edition very well, and pamphlets of rules changes were coming out in droves.

As time went by, the Friday Game Nights stopped, and I resorted to playing with my younger friends. Who, while eager to learn, were not very mature and liked to goof off. Around 1994 I had all but given up. I watched as the 2nd edition came and went and 3rd edition was born. Eventually, the time came in 2000 when I finally sold off my old collection, keeping only my dice bag.

Recently, the 4th edition was introduced and I became interested again. Lack of funds prevented me from getting into it, but my recent trip to Dragon*Con perked my interest again.

Yesterday, while visiting the bookstore I noticed a familiar red box tucked away in the RPG area. It was a mock up of the old old Dungeons & Dragons basic rules, but using the modern 4th edition as a base. It seems that Wizards of the Coast has decided to make an introductory version of the game or as they call it, "Dungeons & Dragons Essentials".

Needless to say, I was excited! I picked up the box and I plan to introduce it to my wife and oldest son this saturday night. I'm hopeful at the chance to get back into tabletop roleplaying, even if it's with simplified rules. Stay tuned, I'll post an update after this attempt at play goes down.

Final Fantasy XI Retrospective - Part 8 - The Add-on Scenarios

2010-09-07T18:45:00.003-05:00

In 2009 SE announced that they would be releasing three mini-expansions, or as they called them, Add-On Scenarios. These short mission lines were introduced as three distinct products:

A Crystalline Prophecy: Ode to Life Bestowing.

A Moogle Kupo d'Etat: Evil in Small Doses

and A Shantotto Ascension: The Legend Torn, Her Empire Born

The first of these was described as an extension of the opening FFXI cutscene. The add-on was criticized heavily for being too short, and being too repetitive. Many of the missions required players to grind away fighting the same monsters over and over in attempt to receive a rare-drop item in order to proceed.

The reward for completing the mission-line was the players selection of a piece of body armor that they could augment and assign selected stats boosts to.

The final boss of this add-on was ridiculously difficult to defeat unless the player came to the fight with a group for other players each equipped with specific jobs and equipment. The next two add-ons followed suit. To be frank, this add-on is what started my decline of interest in the game. I attempted this final fight a total of 18 times, and never scored a single win. I simply could not find the right combination of players/jobs/and equipment needed to defeat the final boss. Finding willing participants was never a problem, but finding the exact combination of jobs was damn-near impossible (Paladin, Ranger, Ranger, Summoner, Red Mage/Dark Knight, White Mage). The general consensus among the community is that not much else will work. To me, that is simply ludicrous.

The second add-on - focuses heavily on your Moogle! It seems that all is not well in Moogle-land and a gang of mafia-style moogle thugs is causing trouble for all the honest hard-working moogles. Filled with grind and back and forth run-style quests, this add-on is similar in content to it's predecessor with a light hearted feel.

The reward for completing this expansion is a custom hat that could be augmented with the stats of your character's choosing.

The third and final add-on revolved around everyone's favorite rhyming Taru, Shantotto. It appears that somehow our lovely professor has an evil twin clone. This clone is hellbent on taking over the world! More of the same in this scenario only harder than the previous two!!

The reward here is a pair of augmentable pants.

The community reaction to these add-ons was mixed. Many people felt them to be lacking. Others complained that they felt as if they were simply paying for the reward items at the end of the scenarios. In reality, SE has admitted to using these scenarios as a test for future add-on content. The main goal of these scenarios was to bring players back to zones that haven't seen much action. I give SE credit where it is due, the price for these add-ons was fair, and the content can be fun at times, but I found them to be mainly frustrating.

These add-ons, and all previous expansion packs were packed together an sold with the original game as Final Fantasy XI: The Ultimate Collection.

Final Fantasy XI Retrospective - Part 7 - Wings of the Goddess

2010-09-07T18:02:00.004-05:00

At last we have the final full-length expansion of the Final Fantasy XI game, Wings of the Goddess. This expansion was heralded as the most advanced visually and content-wise. The content has been on-going since it's release in 2007. In fact, at the time of this writing the storyline of this expansion is still not yet complete. Oddly enough, a version update scheduled for 9/8/2010 will put the finishing touches on this expansion (the day after I'm writing this).

The focus of this expansion is the Crystal War. In it, players get to travel thru time and fight in the war first hand! Prior to the release of this add-on, mysterious monsterous-mouthed statues appeared in various locations through-out Vana'diel. Many of the NPCs commented on seeing something similar to them around the time of the Crystal War. Once the expansion went live, players were able to enter these "Cavernous Maws" where they would be teleported to the past. Once there, they would align themselves with one of the Allied Factions fighting against the Shadowlord and his beastmen.

Participating in these battles introduced a new large-scale battle system called Campaign. Campaign participants will not lose experience points on KO, but they are unable to earn any skill-ups while fighting. In 2009, a game patch introduced random treasure being rewarded at the end of a campaign battle.

Players who participate in campaign would earn rank in the Allied Forces, as well as points which could be redeemed for exclusive weapons and armor.

The expansion also introduced two new jobs: Scholar and Dancer.

The storyline of the expansion is split between Expansion Mission and Nation Quests. Often to proceed further in the missions, a player must complete a set of quests from the nation of their choice. Nation quests helped flesh out the background story of the game's original starting nation. They often include familiar faces from the present and players finally get to see some historical events in person.

During the storyline players will meet a mysterious dimension traveling cat; Cait Sith. (Later revealed to be one of many Cat Siths) who instructs them to use their time-traveling abilities to set right what once went wrong. It would seem that these beings are not all that they seem to be...

Players will also encounter the lovely half-elvaan Lilisette. This curious young lady is later revealed to also be a time traveler - bent to stopping to destruction of the La Vaule monastary (modern day Davoi), and the death of her parents.

Last but not least, players will encounter Lady Lilith. This fiendish femme hails from an alternate universe in which the Crystal War never ended. She seems to be that dimension's version of Lilisette. It is hinted that her reality is actually the "true reality" of Vana'diel and the one your character comes from is "false".

As I mentioned before, at the time of this writing the storyline has yet to be completed. Perhaps one day in the future I will come back and update or append this post once all of the plot details are revealed.

One final tidbit worth mentioning is endgame content known as "Walk of Echoes". This area did not become available until 2010, but it is considered to be part of the Wings of the Goddess expansion. This area is an arena-like battlefield that takes place in a sub-dimension that exists outside of normal space-time. My experience in this area is somewhat limited, as it is a new addition to the game and appears that it will be the playground for high-level characters as future add-ons are released.

In a nutshell, WotG was probably my favorite expansion. I was firmly rooted in the game upon it's release and I was able to begin tackling it's content from day one. The storyline is superb and content is second to none. Campaign made it possible to turn on the game and actually accomplish something even if you had less than an hour available to play.

As I write this, it was the last full-sized expansion for Final Fantasy XI.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Porom's Tale

2010-09-07T11:34:00.002-05:00

Took a little break, but I'm back with the After Years playthrough. Next on the agenda is Porom's Tale.

This chapter was a little odd. As it started we see Palom and Porom again as children. It begins shortly after the end of the original game, I assume. - Palom expresses his desire to begin his training as a Sage, and the elder sends the two of them off to Kaipo to lend a hand with some local problems.

Against Porom's better judgement, she follows Palom into the underground waterway where he engages and defeats a troublesome octopus. It seems that his power is indeed growing as great as his ego.

Flash forward several years - Palom still strong in his desire to become a sage requests a visit to the Mist to learn all there is no know about Eidolons. The elder agrees and charges Porom to go with her brother. The two of them end up meeting up with Cid and taking his airship to the city of Mist where they encounter Rydia. After a brief reunion, she agrees to journey with them to the underworld so Palom can sneak a peek as the Passage of Eidolons.

On the way there, they stop at Giott's castle to say hello. Luca rushes out to meet the pair and attempts to strike up a conversation with Palom (who is acting rather shy around her... hmmm!)

By the time it's all over, Luca joins the group; due to her interest in engineering, and a chance to see Cid's newly remodeled airship.

As the ship lands by the cave, Luca and Cid stay onboard to perform some maintenance. This leaves Palom, Porom, and Rydia in the party. Together, the three of them journey to the lowest level of the passage. However, once they reach the gateway to the Feymarch, Rydia asks them to stay behind. She seems concerned that their bodies will not adjust properly to the different rate in which time flows in the Eidolon's dimension. - The whole scenario was quite odd to be honest. But I think the point of these scenes to illustrate how gung-ho Palom is when it comes to his sage training. and to explain why Rydia has aged so much more than the two twins.

As the party emerges, everyone boards the airship where Luca declares that Cid has agreed to take her on as his apprentice.

Flash Forward yet again -- this time to the "present day". Palom is away on his quest to Troia (as outlined in Palom's tale) and Porom seems concerned about the fate of her brother. The elder consoles her and asks her to undertake an important quest. He asks her to journey to Mt. Ordeals in attempt to find Kain the Dragoon. The rumblings of trouble in Baron are too strong to ignore, and the elder feels that Kain would be best suited to put such problems to rest.

Accompanied by an unnamed White Mage and Black Mage, Porom sets out on her journey. Once reaching the top of the mountain, she locates the strange mirror-room where both Cecil and Kain met their true-selves. A disembodied voice tries to warn her, but before it's message can be relayed - she snaps out of a her "trance" and finds herself back on the top of the mountain. The mysterious room is nowhere to be seen.... Ok.

As the party begins to descend back down, they encounter Kain. It takes some doing, but they convince Kain that Baron is in real trouble and he agrees to go with them to meet the elder.

Once they arrive back in Mysidia, all hell has broken loose. Monsters have erupted from the Devil's Road (which means Baron has already been overtaken -- but we knew that). The party rushes up to the tower where they find a monster attacking the elder. After defeating the beast, Kain declares his plans to visit Baron alone.

Porom makes sure the elder is checked in to the local infirmary and steps outside to see if anyone is in need of healing. That's when she encounters the Mysterious Girl. The Girl declares her intention to steal the Crystal from Mysidia. Porom tries to stop her, and is joined by the elder who comes rushing out of the infirmary. The battle is pointless, the two cannot manage to lay a hand on the Mysterious Girl. Tired of the battle, the Girl summons Ramuh to finish off the heroes. Just in the nick of time, the elder teleports out of the fight as he is struck down by Rumah's Judgement Bolt.

Just when all seems lost, Kain flies down from the sky with the crystal in hand. He shocks everyone by actually offering it to the Girl on the condition that he be allowed to accompany her back to Baron. He declares his wish is to slay King Cecil! The chapter ends.

It seems that the conclusion of this chapter must take place somewhere in the middle of the first After Years entry, since Kain is about to depart for Baron...

All in all, I was not impressed with this round. The story is starting to fit together, but all of this skipping and jumping around the timeline is very chaotic and not all artful.

On a final note: The challenge dungeon here is a bit similar to Edge's. It's a timed run. Monsters are attacking innocent victims in the dungeon and you have to see how many you can assist before the timer runs out. The more you save, the better the rewards.

Despite my slight disappointment, I am interested to see what happens next.

Dragon * Con 2010

2010-09-07T08:40:00.001-05:00

In a last minute decision; my wife, myself, and my oldest son decided to head down to Atlanta for Dragon Con.

I had been debating on going and ultimately decided not to. Little did I know how curious my wife actually was about the convention and late on Friday we decided to make the trek Saturday night after I got out of work.

We stayed over in a hotel just north of Atlanta, and spent all morning/afternoon at the con on Sunday. Man, it was cool.

I wish we had planned better and had a bit more organization, there was so much to do. We were honestly overwhelmed. The dealer rooms were the best. If it was geeky and for sale, you could get it there. I ended up walking out with a ton of polyhedral dice to add to my collection. My wife dropped $50 on some celebrity autographs ><. In her defense, they were very popular actors from the HBO series True Blood. (A show that both of us are fanatical about).

My son had a blast just seeing all the people in costume. We took lots of pics of him posing with various costumed con-goers.

I plan to attend next year as well, as the cost of a ticket is very reasonable and there is so much to do. If you're interested in pictures, here' a link with the best of the ones I managed to take:

http://gallery.me.com/brian.brune#100032

Final Fantasy XI Retrospective - Part 6 - The Treasures of Aht Urhgan

2010-09-06T23:23:00.004-05:00

The third FFXI expansion was released shortly after I made my return to the game. In this add-on, adventurers were finally able to access the middle-eastern continent of Vana'diel. This area, the Empire of Aht Urhgan, had always been an area of much mystery.

After figuring out how to gain access to the new area, the first thing my friends and I did was discover to unlock the new jobs. That's right, SE created three new jobs that were unlockable in this expansion: The Puppetmaster, Corsair, and Blue Mage.

After arriving in the city of Whitegate, your character will typically sign up with the mercenary group Salaheem's Sentinels. Led by the sexy, but bi-polar Naja Salaheem. After seemingly signing your life away, you are instructed to aid the nation and gain fame for your company by completing various Assault missions. Also, you can earn standing with the Empire by defending it against Beastmen attacks, in an event known as Besieged.

The Assault system in my opinion was quite impressive. However, as a whole it never really took off. In it, you would accept a mission and be teleported to that zone. While there, you would accomplish your task to earn Imperial Standing and various rewards. Largely, the majority of these missions were overlooked by many players. Many of them preferred to concentrate on arguably the most popular of all the missions: The Nyzul Isle Assault.

In this mission, you were charged with exploring a lost undersea maze, the floors fill with random enemies and rewards every time you visit. After so many floors you could record your progress on a disc, allowing your start your next run from that floor. Many of the higher-level floors could reap great rewards.

The storyline of the expansion was really it's shining jewel. It was very well written and filled with humor and intrigue. Your character's relationship with Naja Salaheem provides several moments of comic relief in what is a very epic storyline. Without delving into too much detail, I will say that by the conclusion of the storyline, your character single-handedly helps to restore diplomatic ties between the Empire and the Western Nations from which you have journeyed from.

The endgame content of the expansion focuses typically on Nyzul Isle as well as new features called Einherjar and Salvage. By taking on this content, players can find powerful weapons and armor for their characters as well locking blades with the infamous avatar: Odin.

ToAU is also famous for containing the second-most powerful boss in the game (at the time of this writing): the Pandemonium Warden.

Overall, this is one of the best-received expansions in FFXI. From the beauty of the new areas, to the wonderfully composed music and storyline. Not to mention the awesome endgame content. This expansion pack really stands out in the minds of many as being the best that FFXI had to offer. It's release certainly changed the game in ways that the fanbase did not expect.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Edge's Tale

2010-08-25T08:26:00.004-05:00

The next stop in the After Years is Edge's Tale.

Much like Yang, Edge is ruling over his kingdom and taking time out of his schedule to train a group of locals in the art of Ninjitsu. When rumors of Baron's deception reach the ears of Edge, he decides to see for himself if there are any truth to the rumblings. His students protest and offer their assistance, which he refuses. However, they continue to protest he finally relents.

At this point you get to play a short little scenario with each of Edge's protege's; Zangetsu, Izayoi, Gekkou, and Tsukinowa.

Zangetsu disguises himself as a Dwarf and infiltrates the underworld to confirm that the Dark Crystal is still safe. While there he learns that the infamous tower of Babil has been reactivated, he escapes back to the surface world and rejoins with Edge to provide the information he has discovered.

Izayoi is a spunky young girl. She disguises herself as an Epopt in the city of Troia. She discerns

that indeed Troia is using their training tower to school their ranks in the art of combat. She hitches a ride on the boat that brought Palom to Troia earlier as it departs to make her escape.

Gekkou heads towards the meteor to investigate. While there, he encounters the party of Monks from Fabul. From afar he watches their struggle with the Mysterious Girl. Tempted to jump in in help them, he remembers his commitment to his master and escapes with his life. But not after erecting a small memorial to the fallen monks. (Obviously the memorial that Yang found in his chapter upon his visit to the same site).

Finally we have Tsukinowa. His job to infiltrate Mysidia is successful. He trails Porom to Mt. Ordeals. He has been assigned with the job of tracking down Kain. The Elders of Mysidia feel they could use his expertise during these dark times. After keeping a silent watch over Porom, he slips back off to rejoin his master.

As you play the characters mentioned above, if any of them dies during their mission, their death will be permanent and they will unable to rejoin with edge later on...

Meanwhile, Edge has taken on the task of storming the Tower of Babil. As he climbs the tower, any of his surviving disciples will catch up with him and together they climb to top of the tower.

It is there that the group encounters the Mysterious Girl. After a brief confrontation, Edge realizes that the party will be unable to defeat her. He leads his ninja down a secret exit that he remembers from the old game, to flee from the Mysterious Girl.

While fleeing, Edge realizes the eerie similarities between the past and his current situation. Again, the party finds themselves cornered and having nowhere else to go, Edge takes a leap of faith and jumps from the tower. His students follow.

As the ninja plummet to the depths below, Rydia and Luca swoop below them and catch the team on their airship. Perfect timing...

As introductions are made the chapter fades out.

~~~

This chapter was a bit longer than some of the others. But it did a good job of filling in some story gaps. The challenge dungeon here is especially annoying. It's a timed run thru a zone that resembles the Tower of Babil. The faster Edge can get to the end of the dungeon, the better the reward will be. After a few playthroughs of the dungeon, I was quite ready to move on to the next chapter; Porom's Tale.

Goings ons....

2010-08-23T09:17:00.003-05:00

I figure it's time for a personal update:

Things have been going fairly well recently. I'm still stretched thin schedule and stress-wise, but I make sure I find a few hours a day for R&R.

I recently began beta testing Final Fantasy XIV. I have not spent too much time with the game, as it run pretty terrible on my iMac. Now, my iMac isn't a gaming powerhouse by any means. But, neither is it a piece of crap. In fact, this is the first game I've thrown at it that has given it any problems.

I worry a little bit, because the game is not in good shape at all. With less than a month until public release, I really hope SE has internal builds that are vastly superior to the beta they have us playing.

In fact, the bug has bit me to consider upgrading my iMac to a newer model.

I sold my truck recently, so the money is sitting in my savings account but I have made a personal promise to myself to resist the urge to blow it all on a new iMac. Instead I have spent a fraction of it to build my blu-ray collection up. The rest will stay in savings until it's NEEDED.

I imagine if after taxes come back, I still find myself pining for a new iMac, I'll bite the bullet at that point.

FFXIV will be out for the PS3 in March, and that is where I'll primarily play it. So I figure I can deal with it for that long.

My goal right now is to finish the After Years before the official release of XIV.

In other news:

Snowi is officially a senior in college now, and if all goes according to plan, she will graduate in May of 2011. This is will usher in a new era for us as far as lifestyle is concerned. Soon she will be making a salary equal to or greater than mine. This will allow me to finally find another job that won't stress me to the breaking point. Even if I take a cut in pay.

Now here's a GRAND BIT of news. Since moving here to Tennessee in 2003, my biggest complaint has been how "stone age" this community seems to be. Over the course of the years I've lived here, things have modernized a little bit. Most places now take debit cards, Wal-Mart stopped closing at 10pm about 2 years ago. Sadly, we still have no trash pickup, and banks are still closed 3 days a week... but my biggest complaint is finally about to be slain.

As I may or may not have mentioned before, ever since living here there has been no form of highspeed internet to speak of. At my home, there is no cable, no DSL. From 2003 to 2008, we had to deal with dial up. In 2008 we were able to buy a Verizon aircard from "semi-highspeed", but according to Verizon, we use our internet too much so they cap our speed at 200kbps.

This week, the local telco is going to flip the switch on the Fiber Optic internet they have spent the last 12 months stringing along our road. We are going to be the first house they hook up.

I'm going from 200kbps to 12mbs. Thats 200 kilobyte per second to 12,000 kilobytes per second. Yeah that's a big difference. I'm excited.

Mega Man & Bass

2010-08-23T09:00:00.004-05:00

Another Mega Man title down. This one was quite a bit less painful. Mega Man & Bass, or as it's known in Japan, Rockman & Forte. Originally a SNES title in Japan, it finally made it's way to the US via the Gameboy Advance. We waited a long time for this game in the USA, Japan had it for several years, so it was nice to finally see it come our way. For a long time, the only way to play this title was thru emulation.

It seemed for a long time that this would be the last Mega Man title. The Mega Man X series was going strong by this point, and we had several spin-off series as well. It wasn't until 2008, that we were treated to the 8-bit retro throw back of Mega Man 9 (which we'll get to in another post).

In this game you can actually choose between Mega Man or Bass as you hunt down the mysterious robot leader known as King. It seems that King thought it would be a great idea to break into the Robot Museum and steal away some classic robot creations in his plot to take over the world from humans. Of course, as our heros work their way into the thick of things, it turns out that the real genius behind this plot is none other than Dr. Wiley. SURPRISE!!!! Once King is defeated, all is set right and King expresses his desire to atone for his horrible deeds.

Pretty basic plot, and like any other Mega Man game all the basics are covered here:

Pick which level you want to play, beat the robot boss at the end of that level, gain his weapon, rise and repeat.

The oddity here is the inclusion of Bass as a playable character? Isn't Bass a bad guy? Well, yes he is! He was designed by Wiley to be superior to Mega Man. In a weird convolution of the story, that's why he's helping. He wants to prove that he's better than Mega Man. So what better way is there than to save the world from danger?

Anyways, how does the game stand up? Well, it's a TAD BIT easier than the previous entries. The only real original piece of the game is the ability to play as Bass. The story is still very weak, but better than average for a Mega Man game. In my opinion, the whole concept is losing it's charm by this point. But if you are playing Mega Man these days, its not for it's originality-but more because you're either sadistic (like me) or you for nostalgia (also like me).

Here's my rating:

Difficulty 7/10

Story 6/10

Originality 5/10

Soundtrack 6/10

Fun 6/10

Graphics (at the time of release) 8/10

Playcontrol 7/10

Final Fantasy XI - Retrospective Part 5 - Chains of Promathia

2010-08-18T14:28:00.003-05:00

All the hail the most fearsome name in MMO gaming; Chains of Promathia. The second expansion to Final Fantasy XI, and also the reason the game has often be declared the most difficult MMO on the market.

This expansion added several new areas and a new line of missions for characters to play through. For many years the missions included in this expansion were considered to be some of the most difficult that any MMO had seen. A player who had completed the CoP storyline was one hardcore gamer indeed. All of that changed in June of 2010, however. SE released an update to the game that, much to delight of some gamers removed a lot of the restrictions that made these missions so difficult.

So what was the big deal exactly? Well, almost every mission in this expansion was "level capped" meaning no matter how high your character's level was, you were reduced to a lower level for the duration of the mission. In the early days this meant that you had to re-buy old equipment to wear just for the missions. With the introduction on the level-sync system, the gear issue went away, but the level cap remained.

Many of missions required just the right combination of jobs and equipment and often times finding players willing to go along was almost impossible. Once the level cap was removed, players were finally able to duo or even solo a lot of the content for the first time ever. In fact, it almost became too easy.

The storyline of CoP begins the first time your character enters an area called Delkfutt's Tower. You meet with a very unusual boy who passes out at your feet. The child holds a strange amulet. After being taken to the infirmary in Jeuno, you learn the the boy is wanted by a secret society that is somehow related to a set of old ruins scattered throughout Vana'diel.

Investigating the ruins will take your character to a strange dimension known as Promyvion. This world is home a phenomena known as The Empty. It is soon learned that The Empty is coming to eradicate entire world of Vana'diel. After battling thru the first three areas of the emptiness, your character will fall unconscious. When you awaken, you will find yourself in a strange area far west of the main continent. It is here that you will uncover a great truth, there are survivors from the nation of Tavnazia! (The city that was destroyed the opening cutscene of FFXI).

Once your character has unlocked access to the Tavnazian Safehold, the next leg of these missions begins. In a nutshell, your character will meet up with Prishe an unusual girl that keeps an amulet very similar to the boy you encountered at the start of this whole mess. After teaming up with Prishe your character will travel far and wide exploring ancient cathedrals, and floating mountians, all to learn that a member of the society once again has the crazy notion to "open the gates of paradise".

The entire story is much too long to summarize here, but in the long run you character will learn that this rouge Zilart is controlling the emptiness and through him you will witness the return of the Twilight God: Promathia. Promathia must be defeated in the final epic battle of this expansion.

The reward for completing this expansion is access to the fabled area of Al'Taieu (also known as Sea). Sea is another very popular endgame area where players can fight incredibly powerful monsters including one of the most famous MMO mega-bossess of all time: Absolute Virtue.

Absolute Virtue is by far the most difficult monster in FFXI and very arguably the entire series. Most players never even get far enough in the game to lay eyes on him, much less even dream of defeating him.

In years past, a battle with AV would take upwards of 12 hours, and 99% of the time would result in failure. The 1% of the time that an alliance of players were able to defeat him, the game developers would cry foul and make a "corrective adjustment" to the game to prevent it from happening again. Apparently, in Square Enix's mind, there is a certain way that must be taken to defeat AV, and any method that results in a win against him is not considered fair play.

The issue became so heated that SE posted a video online that supposedly gave players hints at how to bring him down. When players complained that 12 hours was too long for a reasonable person to spend playing a game, SE put a time limit of 2 hours on the fight, but did not adjust the bosses difficulty.

Since the level cap increase of June, 2010, a linkshell of level 80 players has successfully defeated the boss on several occasions. As of the time of this writing, SE has remained silent. The community assumes that the long struggle between players and SE over Absolute Virtue is over.

~~~

For years I found myself unable to make much headway in this expansion. Finding people to go along with you to tackle the missions was nearly impossible. Most of the hardcore players got this done in the early days, leaving new players of the game out of luck.

After the changes in Juneo of 2010, I was finally able to experience most of the storyline this expansion had to offer. When I quit playing the game, I was only a few battles away from the fight with Promathia. One of my long time personal goals in FFXI was to engage in battle with Absolute Virtue. This is something that I never managed to accomplish.

When the uncapping occurred, I teamed up with two or three of my closest friends and played thru most of the missions in a matter of several days. All of this happened about a month before I finally quit the game. This means many of my final memories on FFXI actually incorporate the guts of this expansion.

Final Fantasy XI - Retrospective Part 4 - Rise of the Zilart

2010-08-18T13:15:00.005-05:00

Next up in my FFXI retrospective is the Rise of the Zilart expansion.

As I said before, here in the US this expansion was included in the game at the time of release. In fact many people really don't even know the difference between the expansion and the base game. RoZ added lots of new areas and three new jobs: Ninja, Samurai and Dragoon. As well as the introduction of the first "endgame areas" (Dynamis and Sky).

Once the expansion is installed pretty much all of the new areas are available to your character with no special requirements or hoops to jump thru. The only thing in the expansion that really needs to be unlocked are the Rise of the Zilart story missions. This line of missions is available once you have defeated the Shadow Lord at the end of Rank 6. This also unlocks access to the realm known as Dynamis.

Dynamis is an alternate reality in which the Shadow Lord and his Beastmen won the Crystal War. The purpose of Dynamis for large groups of players to band together and storm various Beastman controlled areas. Once they have been conquered you unlock the ability to challenge new areas of Dynamis that were previously inaccessible. The ultimate goal of this is to defeat the Dynamis Lord.

The main reason this content is appealing is because it is the one place that players can obtain Relic Armor (for a long time this was considered the ultimate armor) for their jobs. Dynamis is a very popular endgame event in FFXI and many linkshells will set up their own websites dedicated just to this event. The FFXI community will often work together to plan and schedule Dynamis runs so there is no fighting over areas.

The main storyline of Rise of the Zilart has to do with the Arch-Duke of Jeuno and his companion Eald'narche. After the defeat of the Shadow Lord, the two of them reveal themselves to members of the long extinct race; the Zilart. As time goes on, your character uncovers a plot by the Arch-Duke to obtain access to the lost Zilart city of Tu'Lia, which sits high up in the clouds. The idea is that doing so will supposedly open the gate to Paradise, but could potentially destroy all life on Vana'diel in the process.

As the story progresses on your character will engage in battles with the Arch-Duke himself, as well as the five Crystal Warriors (or Ark-Angels) he has summoned to his aid. The big reward, and the reason that most players try to advance in the Zilart missions is the unlocking of the area Tu'Lia, (aka: Sky). This is another popular endgame area where players can battle against ancient gods and reap bountiful rewards.

Many of the new areas introduced in this expansion are common areas that mid-level players will go to for leveling or general questing. Most players don't actually tackle the Zilart missions until late in their character's careers. Many people will stop progressing once they have unlocked access to sky. The rewards for the last few missions are scant and the battling the Ark Angels often requires a lot of planning. I personally never defeated the Ark Angels and obtained the last chapter of the Zilart story. This is one of my biggest regrets in quitting FFXI when I did.

On a final note, this expansion goes hand in hand with the nation rank missions 7-10. Many of those mission require players to go areas only available after installing Rise of the Zilart.

Some memories I made playing thru the Rise of the Zilart:

*Farming keys to get the Airship pass required to visit the island city of Kazham

*Getting lost countless times in the the jungles of Elshimo.

*Taking on the "Temple of Ugly" with my friends and battling the Tonberries that inhabited it.

*Unlocking and visiting Sky for the first time.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Palom's Tale

2010-08-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

On to the next chapter in After Years, Palom's Tale.

I was never big fan of Palom. He's such a brat. It seems that even now that has not changed much. Oh, yes Palom and his sister Porom have grown up quite a bit, but he's still as sassy as ever.

The tale begins with Palom being summoned to the top of the Prayer Tower by the elder of Mysidia. He is sent on an assignment to Troia where he is to help train an apprentice Epopt (priestess). Confused by the order, he suggests that they send his sister, who after all, is a White Mage. He states he doesn't have time for such menial tasks, as he is ready to begin his trials as a Sage. He is denied and ordered to head to Troia at once.

He does arrive to the city, albeit a bit late, where he meets Leonora the apprentice Epopt. He is tasked with escorting her to the top of the Tower of Knowledge where she is to retrieve a magical seal and return.

During their climb up the tower, Palom teaches Leonora the basics of Black Magic. He becomes impressed at how fast she seems to be learning, considering she has dedicated her life to white magic.

Once the duo returns from the tower they find Troia under siege from the forces of Baron. Leonora and Palom decide to take the Earth Crystal and flee the city before it can be stolen. Following Leonora through a secret underground chamber the pair of mages escape on chocobo to the Lodestone Cavern. Their escape is short lived, the Mysterious Girl appears and defeats the two of them by summoning Shiva... With no choice left Palom and Leonora surrender the crystal.

As the chapter comes to an end, the scene changes to Porom who (for some strange reason is climbing a mountain with the Dark Kain???) senses that her brother is in trouble.

~~~~

Again, a very short and sweet chapter I took maybe 2-3 hours to play through it. Palom's challenge dungeon is very strange compared to the others so far. Each time you go thru you get warped to random themed rooms. It seems to be different every time you run thru it. At the end waits a Blade Dragon, the treasure in his chest is random just like all the other dungeons.

Also, one other odd tidbit is a appearance of a secret "strip club" in the town of Troia. After purchasing a ticket for 10,000 gil you get to watch a strip show put on by old women! Once that is over with, you can purchase a second ticket for 50,000 that will allow you access to a secret pub/shop. There are some unusual pieces available for purchase here. Next up, Edge's Tale.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Yang's Tale

2010-08-17T15:33:00.004-05:00

I'm sorry for the delay, but I did indeed take a break from After Years to play Final Fantasy XIII. It's only been about 4 months... :P

I have to say it was a much needed break. Up until now, FFIV:AY has failed to impress me. The game and story feels very thrown together, the random encounters are insanely frequent and the difficulty is a little on the high side.

I decided to proceed on the the next chapter which is Yang's Tale.

Good old Yang has taken up his duties as King of Fabul. He spends most of his days training his monks and being overly concerned for his daughter, Ursula. In this chapter we are finally given the name of Yang's wife: Sheila. (Kind of a running joke for those have have played the original FFIV.)

It seems that Ursula wants very badly to train as a monk with her father but he refuses. After a final plea from her, she runs away towards Mt. Hobbs in effort to prove herself a capable fighter. Meanwhile, Yang's advisors warn him of the strange rumors that are floating around about the nation of Baron seemingly trying to collect the crystals. Yang blows off the rumors and states that he trusts King Cecil's intentions equivocally. He instead focuses his attention on finding his missing daughter. And with good reason, Mt. Hobbs is a very dangerous place, and recently a party of Yang's best monks disappeared in the area during a routine training mission.

Yang and team of monks journey to Mt. Hobbs where they catch up with Ursula engaged in a battle with several monsters. The join the fray and together finish them off. Afterwards, she explains that just the other day she saw a meteor fall from the sky on the other side of the mountain. They all agree to go investigate.

The meteor is filled with odd monsters, it is here that Yang discovers the gravesite of his lost monks. While paying his respects three slyphs appear to him in a vision and warn him that an evil force is coming for Fabul's wind crystal. Yang and the party head back towards Fabul.

On the way there, they notice a fleet of Redwings on the distant skyline. It seems the rumors are true. In fact, not long after Yang returns to his kingdom it is attacked by several companies of Baron soldiers. It is during this attack that Kain (or as we know him, Dark Kain) appears and steals the wind crystal from a confused Yang.

Deciding not to take it lightly, Yang, Ursula and a few monks decide to set sail for Baron to personally speak with Cecil. On the way, the ship is attacked by monsters. Limping towards Baron, Yang sees another ship on the horizon. It is a ship from Damcyan, home of King Edward. It seems Edward is also seeking an audience with Cecil.

But wouldn't you know it, in the battle with monsters, Yang's ship is damaged and is leaking fuel. The captain takes a detour to the uncharted Adamant Isles for repairs and to collect some palm oil to use a replacement fuel.

While searching out the fuel, Yang and Ursula become separated. As the game switches between Yang and Ursula you are treated to several cutscenes that explain Yang's reluctance to train her. However, once they meet back up, Yang realizes that Ursula is indeed a mature young lady who is not afraid to risk herself to help others. Yang agrees to take his own daughter on a disciple and together they return to the ship with the much needed palm oil.

Once the ship casts off it resumes it's journey towards Baron. Only this time... they run headlong into a mysterious whirlpool... Ugh.

This is where the chapter ends. Short and sweet.

~~~

I actually had a lot of fun with this chapter. I felt the fights were much more balanced and the story was much easier to follow than the previous two entries. After saving at the completion of the chapter you can take on Yang's challenge dungeon.

This dungeon is my favorite so far. It's a bit like the old Bruce Lee Pagoda movie. It's very straight forward. Yang and Ursula ascend a tower floor by floor. Each floors is tougher the the one before it. Every so often there are chests containing loot. I made about 6 treks up the tower and only god one piece or rare gear. A Rose Dress for Ursula, so the drop rate still sucks.

All in all, my favorite chapter so far. Which strikes me as odd because in the original game Yang was probably my least favorite character.

Final Fantasy XI - Retrospective Part 3 - Original Game

2010-08-17T08:19:00.001-05:00

For the remainder of my FFXI retrospective I will be talking about the different chapters in the game. When FFXI was first released in Japan it contained only a basic amount of content. An expansion pack was released shortly after that added new jobs and areas, and completed the original storyline. When the game was released in the US, both the original content and the first expansion were included.

Before I delve into the storyline of the game (Yes! A MMO with an actual story!!) let me start by mentioning a few things to bring everyone up to speed. The game takes place in a world called Vana'diel. The playable races in this world worship a goddess named Altana. Legend says that in the ages past when Vana'diel was created it was populated by an ancient race named the Zilart. Saddened by the way the Zilart treated the planet, Altana weeped. as her tears of crystal fell to Vana'diel, they became the five races of beings. As I noted in a previous entry, the playable races in the game are as follows:

Hume, Elvaan, Taru Taru, Mithra and Galka.

A quick read through the game manual explains that each one of these races has a home nation. The Republic of Bastok is home to Humes and Galkas.

The Elvaan hail from the Kingdom of San d'Oria

and the Taru Taru and Mithra co-exist in the Federation of Windurst.

Humes are an adaptable jack-of-all-trades type of race. Their home nation is very industrial, much like early America.

Galka are large burly types that reproduce through reincarnation, historically they have been used as a sort of slave-labor after their migration to Bastok. They are often ridiculed and looked down on by humes as second-class citizens, despite being an intelligent and capable people.

Elvaan are a noble race that often seem rather snobbish to outsiders. Usually suspicious of magic, they tend to settle their disputes with the sword. They put a lot of stock in heritage and honor.

Taru Taru are the cute little race of magic users. They are governed by a mysterious leader known as the Star Sybil. They share their forest home of Windurst with the...

Mithra. A Race of cat-like beings. Most Mithra encountered are female, the dominant gender of the race. The males are usually kept out of sight. They have a strong hunter mentality.

When you begin you also have to choose a job (or class) for your character. The following jobs are available at the start of the game:

Warrior, Thief, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage.

After certain quests are completed and your character meets certain qualifications you can unlock the following advanced jobs:

Paladin, Dark Knight, Beastmaster, Bard, Ranger, Summoner* (Summoner was added later after a version update)

Now that we have that out of the way let's focus on the story.

When you first start the game you are treated to a very moving cutscene that shows a mountainous city under siege by an army of monsters. The people take refuge within it's walls as an alliance of the above races take up arms to defend it. After an epic battle, the monsters are victorious in taking the city. At the end of the cutscene, we see a little boy and his older sister separated during the siege. She helps him flee apparently at the cost of her own life. The little boy's name is Aldo, he's an NPC that shows up later in the game. He's an important part of the game's story later on.

The events of the cutscene take place approximately twenty years before the time of the game, during the great Crystal War. The city in the cutscene was the nation of Tavnazia. It did indeed fall before the evil armies of the Shadowlord and his Beastmen on that day.

The set up for FFXI focuses heavily on this war. During the time of the game, the war is over and a stressed alliance between the nations of Altana is still in place. The beastmen are divided into racial factions but still cause trouble for the other races of Vana'diel. Recently, the whispers of war have sent a panic through the general populous. It is in this that your character comes into play. After creating a player-character, and selecting a starting nation you show up in town as an independent adventurer answering a call to arms.

Now I have to be too careful not to go into much detail or these posts could be insanely large so I'll take every effort to summarize.

As I mentioned before my character was a male Hume from Bastok. When the game started I found myself in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the Bastok Marketplace. After a short introductory scene,your character is approached by a resident of the city and declares their desire to join the ranks of their starting nation. When I started, a nearby guard gave my character directions around town and some brief instructions to follow, basically my first quest. The rest is history.

The scene above may play out a little different for everyone. It all depends on where you start and what zone your character begins in but all in all it will lead to the same result: you enlist with your starting nation and begin your adventure.

The main game is filled with tons of quests and mission that your character will undertake. It is thru these that the storyline unfolds, at times it's rather slow but eventually all of the pieces fall into place. You are free to go wherever you wish and develop your character as you see fit. You can experiment with different jobs, learn magic, earn money by crafting goods, whatever. Different players will have different goals in mind, but regardless of how you want to play, talking to the various NPCs around is one of the best ways to keep abreast of the storyline and also learn the tricks of the trade.

Regardless of your starting nation the storyline follows a similar path:

The beastmen are on the rise. after enlisting and proving yourself to be a valuable asset to your nation, you are sent to investigate the rise of the beastmen. What you discover is what everyone fears the most, the Shadow Lord has returned!

I do not wish to spoil the game for anyone, but as the missions continue you learn many dirty details behind the Crystal War, the real identity of the Shadow Lord and what caused him to come into power.

The first 6 "mission chapters" of your nation focus mainly on this. At the end of your character's Rank 6 missions, you and your friends will battle against the resurrected Shadow Lord.

The remaining 4 mission ranks focus more on the backstory of your particular nation. Getting your character from rank 1-10 will take considerable time. It took me several years, from 2006-2009. Often you will need help to tackle these missions, and sadly in some instances only players who also need the missions or have already completed the missions from YOUR NATION can assist you. Due to the difficulty of this, a character that has earned Rank 10 in their home nation often earns the respect of their fellow players. This was more so in the early days of the game.

When game was first released characters could only progress as far as level 50, and earn Rank 6 in their home nations. As time went on and the game was updated, the level cap was raised to 75 (where it stayed until very recently), the final rank missions were added and the Summoner job was added as well.

The game is updated often to keep jobs in balance, to fix bugs, and to add new content.

A large part of your early career in Vana'diel will be spent leveling your character, experimenting with different jobs, earning a reputation by taking on various quests and missions.

There is no right or wrong way to play the game. You can start a mission today and not finish it for several years and there is no penalty. There is so much to do that it's easy to get sidetracked.

In my opinion the best part of the game is also the worst. Other players. Meeting new people from all over the world and sharing in the adventure with them is an amazing experience. Many of my in-game friends have carried over to real life. That being said, it can be frustrating relying on others simply because you want to advance to the next mission. Often times these missions take lots of planning and it never fails that someone will come unprepared, or will simply back out at the last minute. These situations can be extremely frustrating and honestly, to be successful in FFXI you have to have some thick skin. But keep in mind that with so many things to do in the game, if one thing doesn't work out, you can always turn your attention elsewhere for the time being.

Some recurring Final Fantasy themes from other games:

Moogles! Every character has a personal Moogle assistant that lives in your home.

Chocobos! Chocobos are ridable steeds that you can rent from the town stables, like in other games you will not encounter enemies while riding a Chocobo.

Jobs! Many of the classic jobs from Final Fantasy 1, 3, and 5 are available in the game. Upon reaching a certain level your character can quest out "Artifact Armor" this armor is optimized for your particular job and is designed to look like the classic Final Fantasy armor for the job in question.

Gil! Following suit with the other games, Gil is the coin of the realm.

~*~*~*~*~

Some notable memories I made playing through the basic content of the game:

* Getting lost in town, and getting shown around by other veteran players.

* Joining my first linkshell.

* Blindly taking on missions that were out of my league and getting myself killed in strange and dangerous areas.

* THE VALKRUM DUNES - a rite of passage for many new players. This is where you are introduced to the concept of teaming up with others with others and often times where you will unlock your character's ability to select a sub-job.

* Visiting the Duchy of Jeuno - a neutral city that in the the early days of the game was the place to go to meet others and get the best weapons and armor.

* Seasonal events - often times the game will incorporate real life holidays into the game. There are Halloween and Christmas costumes for your characters for example. There's also the opportunity to earn furniture for your characters Mog-House (or home)

* The Shadow Lord - Defeating the Shadow Lord in Mission 6 is a big turning point for many players. I had a real sense of accomplishment when I turned this corner in the game's storyline. In fact it is completing this task that will unlock the first expansion to the game:

The Rise of the Zilart.

Mega Man 8

2010-08-15T12:26:00.004-05:00

It's been a year and a half since I reviewed my last Mega Man game. I posted my playthrough/review of Mega Man VII in January of 2009. There has been a good reason it took me this long to resume... I HATE THIS GAME.

It's really sad too because Mega Man 8 has a lot going for it. The graphics are a leap over previous installments, the game actually attempted to have a story, and once again we meet up with arguably the 2nd most popular character in the franchise; Bass. You can now also mix multiple weapons together to achieve unique effects. It really sounds like a great upgrade for the series right?

My problem with the game is twofold, first - the difficulty. Ok, I understand that each Mega Man game is supposed to be progressively harder than the previous one. I get that. But you can only make a game so hard before it's nearly unplayable. To add insult to injury, this game is littered with various "surf board levels" where you have ZERO control over your character other than "jump", "duck" and "shoot". It was this very thing that made me walk away in disgust over a year ago.

Second, the version I played on the ps2 was a port of the old Sega Saturn version and the port was horrifically done. The controls are laggy, the cutscenes look like they come off a 4th generation VHS tape, it's just horrid.

The storyline here is the only saving grace. The game begins with an anime cartoon/cutscene that shows two strange robots fighting in outerspace. Naturally they crash to earth where one of them is found by Dr. Wiley. Harnessing the new "dark energy" he finds inside the robot, he fuses this power into his robots making them more powerful than ever before.

After being sent to the crash site to investigate, Mega Man finds the remains of one of the crashed robots and Dr. Light takes him in for repairs. hunts down Wiley's new breed of robots and eventually fights his way past the first set of bots that Dr. Wiley has pitted against him.

It is at this point that the rescused robot; Duo reveals the truth about what is happening. He explains the nature of the dark energy to Mega Man and offers his assistance in defeating Wiley's remaining bosses.

Of course, after another rounds of bossess, Mega Man storms Wiley's new fortress, engages more robots, faces off with Bass, and manages to destroy the dark energy as the castle collapses around him. Just when it seems the end is near, Duo appears on the scene and cleanses Mega Man of the dark energy he has absorbed, destroying the last remnant of the dark energy on the planet Earth. Peace at last.

Not a bad story, actually it should have been enough to keep me going. But as I said, the difficulty was really a big bummer for me. To add insult to injury, about 8 months after struggling thru the game, I lost my ps2 data card with my save on it. I had resigned never to finish this title.

Ahh but the blessings of the ps3 are upon me. I was able to actually download a comparable savegame from the internet and load it on my ps3. Picking up where I had left of pretty much.

That being the case, I can't honestly claim that I played this game from start to finish, as there was one robot boss that I never had the opportunity to fight. But honestly, I'm not complaining.

Even the soundtrack blew this time around....

The bosses in this title include the following: Tengu Man, Aqua Man, Astro Man, Grenade Man, Clown Man, Frost Man, Search Man, and Sword Man, Bass, Wiley and a few other peons.

My breakdown is as so:

Difficulty 9/10

Story 8/10

Originality 6/10

Soundtrack 6/10

Fun 4/10

Graphics (at the time of release) 8/10

Playcontrol 7/10

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

2010-08-14T22:21:00.003-05:00

Finally we have a change of pace in the Castlevania series. Once again making an attempt a 3D Castlevania, Konami released Lament on Innocence on the PS2. Chronologically the first Castlevania title, this game show's the earliest Belmont ancestor and explains the origins of Dracula all in wonderful 3D style graphics.

The game does boast impressive graphics for the time, voice acting, and a fully orchestrated soundtrack. At the time of release, the in-game rendering and the CG cutscenes were top notch.

The backstory of the game is extremely detailed, it features two Knights of the Crusade; Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist. These two knights were famous for leading their company on countless victories and never a single defeat. As it turns out, while they are away Mathias's betrothed; Elisabetha dies a mysterious death. This news shatters both Mathia's spirit and physical health. Apprently on the verge of losing his sanity, he resigns, leaving Leon as the sole leader of their company of knights.

While he is away, Mathias sends a message to Leon that their home nation has become ridden with monsters, and Leon's fiance' Sara has been abducted. Leon makes a request to the church that he be allowed to send his army back to their homeland to defend it from the terrible beasts which have suddenly appeared. Interested only in winning back the holy lands, the church denies his request. Mathias advises that the monsters have been summoned by a vampire who resides in a nearby forest, it is this vampire that has taken Sara as bait for the mighty Leon.

At this news, Leon also resigns his position as knight, and makes way to the newly christened "Forest of Eternal Night" to investigate these claims. This is where the game actually begins...

Leon meets a man in the forest by the name of Rinaldo. Rinaldo explains that the rumors are indeed true. In the heart of the forest sits the castle of a vampire named Walter. Walter, bored with immortality likes to "toy with mortals" by allowing them the chance to best him in combat. Walter has charged Rinaldo with the task of assisting his challengers as they attempt to fight their way thru his castle. A job that Rinaldo is all to eager to take up (it is later revealed that Walter had turned Rinaldo's daughter into a vampire. In fact, she is one of the very bosses Leon will face on his journy).

Rinaldo explains that to defeat Walter, one must prove himself worthy by slaying the other guardians of the castle. This includes, lesser vampires, various monsters and beasts, etc. Leon accepts the challenge and Rinaldo provides him a magical whip, enchanted with the secrets of alchemy.

Eventually Leon manages to fight his way to Walter's quarters- after doing so, Sara is returned to him as reward. However, back at Rinaldo's cottage they discover that Sara has also been vampirized. In hushed tones, Rinaldo explains that if Walter can be defeated the curse would fade, but that not even the Whip of Alchemy would not be powerful enough to defeat Walter. Only if it was enchanted by the blood of one of Walter's vampiric minions would it even be an effective weapon.

Overhearing this, Sara begs Leon to end her life with the whip. She does not wish to be undead and with time against them and no way to save her, she offers herself as a sacrifice. Leon scoffs at the idea, but realizing there is no other alternative - he reluctantly agrees. As he strikes the killing blow to his beloved, the Whip of Alchemy becomes the "Vampire Killer", the whip handed down for generations to all members of the Belmont clan.

On behalf of Rinaldo and Sara, Leon returns to the castle and confronts Walter for the last time. When Walter sees that Leon had the power to defeat him, and he is surprised. After their fight, Walter concedes defeat. But he boasts that he would come back, and find a lost relic known as the Crimson Stone, a stone of ultimate black magic and power. Then he would invincible At this moment Death appears and steals Walter's soul, vowing to give it as a gift to the "king who already wields the Crimson Stone".

Surprise! This "King" turns out to be none other but Mathias! Leon's most trusted friend. Mathias elaborates on his scheme - he used everyone and orchestrated everything that happened to get Walter's soul. After Elisabetha died, Mathias felt betrayed by God. God took away the person he loved most, even after he risked his life fighting heretics in the crusades. For this, he now defies mortal life, and curses God forever with his newfound immortality.

Mathias then offers Leon the chance to join him and become immortal as well, because Leon suffered the same loss, and can sympathize with his pain. Leon refuses and vows that this is not the path Sara would have wanted him to take. Finding Leon's answer weak, Mathias orders Death to finish Leon off once and for all. With that, Mathias shifts into a bat and flies away.

Against the final battle with Death, Leon is victorious. Sparing his "life", Leon orders Death to relay this message to Mathias: "You have become a cursed being, and I will never forgive you. This whip and my kinsmen will destroy you someday..."

With the evil vanquished the veil of night lifts from the forest and surrounding area...

Mathias escaped to foreign lands, where he continued to curse God. He eventually proclaimed himself 'Lord of the Vampires', and 'King of the Night'. He would eventually become known as DRACULA...

There you have it, truly an epic story of a Castlevania prequel. But all storytelling aside, the game itself if quite good. It is very atmospheric, the mood and visuals are spot on for this type of title. It is a perfect mix of "church-gothic". As Leon defeats bosses and overcomes obstacles in the castle, he is able to progress deeper and strengthen his power. Aside from fast paced battles, the castle also contains various traps and timed puzzles you must clear in order to proceed.

My biggest grip with the game is the clunky controls. After a few hours of gameplay you do tend to get used to them, but over all they are not very intuitive. Several times thru the came I died not because of my ability, but rather because of trying to get the game to do when I was telling it to. The menus and item selection are a bit burdensome, and well as trying to get you character and whip to actually go the direction you are moving your control stick.. This was a major pain point of mine in the final fight.

Aside from this gripe, I throughly enjoyed the game. I do recommend it, if for nothing more than the excellent story and atmosphere. It's place in the timeline and my breakdown is as follows.

1094 : Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Leon Belmont vs. Walter & Death

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1748: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Juste Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1830: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Nathan Graves vs Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

2035: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Soma Cruz vs. Castlevania

Difficulty 8/10

Story 10/10

Originality 8/10

Soundtrack 9/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 9/10

Playcontrol 6/10

Final Fantasy XI - Retrospective Part 2 - Friends

2010-08-11T09:32:00.010-05:00

Before going into an outline of the various aspects of the game including it's expansions and scenarios. I want to make a post about the very best part of Final Fantasy XI, the other players.

The game itself, for many years, had some very serious shortcomings. If it wasn't for the community I would have probably left the game years before I did.

It was around spring 2006, and I had finally settled in my new home in Tennessee and I had started a new jobs about six months before but I didn't really have a friends in the area. I had taken a trip back to Georgia to visit my parents and I decided on the way down that I needed some kind of a hobby to help pass the time. I could always start plying music again, but I didn't have the time to actually play in a band or stick to any type of recording schedule. I had recently been playing thru the Final Fantasy series (much like I am doing now, except this time I'm chronicling it), I had just finished Final Fantasy X, so while I was down in GA I saw FFXI sitting on the shelf of Best Buy. I figured, why not.

I bought the standard box that contained the original game and first expansion (same content I had in the beta actually). I learned really quickly that I would not be able to play my old beta character, so I made a little Taru Taru named Grumples (named playfully after my oldest son). This time I found myself on the Asura server, and my had a lot changed.

Where as in the beta, the auction house was always empty and nothing of any use was ever for sale, here in a live game it contained every item of armor, weapon, or anything you could ever need (and for insane prices too). This is where I encountered my first example of player kindness I would experience in FFXI. Another fellow Taru named Venegas offered to show me around, he gave me quite a healthy sum of gil (money) to get me started and was my buddy for several days. He invited me to his linkshell (chat room/guild) and I met many people from there. For a few weeks I got busy and was unable to play. When I came back I discovered that there had been some kind of argument between several of the LS members and the LS had been dissolved.

I decided that I wanted to see what else the game had to offer, and now that I had a little more experience under my belt I would erase and restart under a new character.

Back in these days, when you made a brand new character you were assigned to a server at random. So I went about "remaking" Nakijin and this time I was assigned to the Bahamut server.

Over the course of the years the servers opened up and for a price you could move and find new people to play with.

Below is a list of people and linkshells that meant a lot to me over the years and really made the game such a wonderful experience:

Server: Bahamut / Linkshell : PetFoodAlpha

Takki - A nice young lady from TX that took time to help a "semi noob" get back on his feet.

FusionX - Host of the FFXI podcast PetFoodAlpha of which I had been a listener before i even got back into the game.

Taiken - A talented graphic artist, together with Fusion helped Nakijin unlock his ability to have a subjob.

Server: Odin / Linkshell : KindredSouls

Dru - One of my best friends in FFXI, a guy from Hawaii and one of the reasons FFXI became more than just a game, but a lifestyle for me.

Sparkajen - Dru's friend in RL and a quirky little Taru.

Kally - Another of Dru's RL friends, helped my accomplish a lot in the game.

Aznarak - Leader of the KindredSouls linkshell, I was proud to server as an LS officer under him.

Tripod - My snarky but lovable buddy, who left the game before I did, but let a lasting impression.

Zlokava - The coffee drinking, pointy hat obsessed Taru from Croatia, still a friend of mine to this day.

Sumer - Dru's best friend in RL and one of the nicest people I've ever met, in game and in RL.

Brendan - One of my very first friends on Odin in FFXI. I'll always remember the times the two of us shared as "new players" exploring dangerous places and getting into trouble together.

At one point the server of Odin became so crowded that SE stopped allowing players to transfer to it. Several months after this occurred, many players moved on to other server. This left a big void. The choice was made to find a new home... so many people from KindredSouls left Odin and moved to the world of Slyph.

Server: Sylph / Linkshell: DesecrateReverance & EventHorizon

Isiac - A quirky but nice fellow, and the Linkshell leader for DS.

Shacura - What can one say about him/her... Good heart, Amusing to talk to.

Catheran - An old friend I dated briefly in Highschool, after reconnecting thru Facebook and learning she was a FF fan, I invited her to Vana'diel. I think she became more obsessed with the game than I did!

Tetridge - Cat's husband, she dragged him kicking and screaming into the game, but he ended up loving it.

and finally, with me on both Odin and Sylph: my wife Morrell

For the first few years I was back into the game, I would only play at night or on my days off. I didn't want my game time to interfere with my family time. The time came where Snowi was home sick for several weeks and I decided to play FFXI while tending to her. She became so interested in the game that I bought her her own copy and the two of us played together ever since. We were even married in game, as the picture at the top of the post will attest.

Final Fantasy XI - Retrospective Part 1 - The Beta

2010-08-11T07:44:00.009-05:00

Now that I've completed Final Fantasy XIII, and I await for the arrival of the next FF title, I think I'll take this time to reflect back and review the game that has been my pasttime for the last 5+ years; Final Fantasy XI.

If you look back in this blog all that way to June 18th, of 2003, you'll find this entry:

I got my Final Fantasy XI beta kit in the mail today.

I slapped the new prototype Hard Disk in the back of the playstation 2 and after 120 minutes of downloading and installing Final Fantasy XI was ready to go.

So far, I must say, I'm impressed. It looks very much like everquest (which was a game I did not particularly care for), but i'm hoping for better.

I made a human character named Nakijin. (Named after one of my favorite places in Okinawa). Apparently my character resides on the server: Cactuar.

I spent a few hours figuring out the odd controls and running around the city of Bastok trying to find the person to trade this "Adventurer's Coupon" too.

Great music, great graphics.... I'll keep you posted.

I remember seeing an article online advertising the release of this game and it intrigued me. As most of my readers know, I have been a fan of Final Fantasy ever since the very first installment. The idea of an "online" multiplayer title seemed curious to me. I hoped that it would be a "side game" and not an actual numbered installment. That way if I didn't like it, I wouldn't feel compelled to play it.

Throwing all my reservations aside, I applied for the beta. I felt I had a good chance at getting in, as I had recently done lots of beta testing for Microsoft and other software developers. Well, I got accepted and a few weeks later I received my beta kit in the mail.

The kit contained a hard drive add-on for the playstation 2, the game itself, and documentation including return boxes.

The beta test was to take place from June to August, once the test was over we were to send back the hard drive. Those that did this before August 14th, would receive the final product for free. (Sadly, I missed this deadline).

When I first installed the game it was very confusing. There was this whole launcher and networking platform that had to be installed first. It felt very thrown together. This is what us FFXI fans know as the Playonline Viewer. It is the hunk of crap that we must wade thru simply to play the game. One of the worst aspects of FFXI.

Once the game started, I found myself on the character creation screen. Choices Choices Choices. The following races are playable in FFXI:

Humes (or humans), Elvaan (which are like elves), Taru Taru (short little cute hobbit like fellows), Mithra (cat girls), and Galka (big green masculine dudes).

I chose to be a male Hume. I modeled my character after what seemed to be the lead character on the box art. I named him after a small fishing village I visited once during my time on Okinawa; Nakijin.

Next up, you choose your nation of allegiance, after reading thru the brief synopsis in the documents, I decided to base my hume in the nation of Bastok. (Which seemed to be their homeland). Bastok seemed similar to early America in the industrial age.

After struggling with the controls for a god 30 minutes, things started to fall into place.

The beta test was very much different from what the actual live game would be like. Japan had been playing the game for several months already so most of the bugs had been worked out. But here I was on a server with only a handful of other beta testers. We were very much thrown to the wolves as far as figuring things out.

I spent the first few days talking to NPCs and doing minor little quests as well as just exploring outside of town and getting my character killed many times in the process.

Eventually after getting to know some of my fellow players, we all learned that teamwork was the best way to evolve our characters. Grouping them into parties and fighting very trough monsters seemed to yield a higher amount of experience points than fighting weaker monsters alone.

During the course of the beta there were several server stress tests. SE would spawn incredibly powerful monsters just outside of town and tell all the players to the have a field day trying to take it down.

Surprisingly, I don't think we managed to crash the server a single time.

Once the beta was over, I sent in my kit and waited for the final product to be released. It was shortly after that my first son was born, so when the game finally came out. It was the last thing on my mind.

I wouldn't play FFXI again until 2006. That would be the start of what has been my longest running game addiction ever :P

More to come.

Final Fantasy XIII - Final Review

2010-08-10T13:23:00.006-05:00

Well, here is my final review for the Playstation 3 version of Final Fantasy XIII. This game, is the main reason I bought a ps3 to be honest, and I can say I feel like I got my money's worth. The graphics are unlike anything I've ever seen before. Which, might not be saying much, as I don't really play many modern titles. The soundtrack, is top notch as well.

A lot of people have ripped this game apart in the media, I even know some friends that dislike the game on the general principle; that it is so much different that other entries in the FF series. Unlike most FF games, this game feels very linear. Even in the later portions of the game it tends to feel this way. The battle system, however, is definitely revolutionary. It takes the concept of "party roles" from MMOs and integrates them into single player gameplay. You play the lead character in the party, and the computer AI controls the rest. You can change the characters roles on the fly in mid-combat. In fact, this "paradigm shift" is really the key to whole game. The character development is very similar to that of Final Fantasy X. (A game I have played in the past, but not yet reviewed on this blog).

What I think most people don't realize is that, in a way, there's sort of two separate games in FFXIII. The storyline, which is the main game, and the Endgame Content, which really doesn't open up until you've beaten the game itself.

Let me say here that the storyline is amazing. It is confusing at first as you're just thrust into this strange and unusual world - with little preface at all. The characters are using words and terms that they are obviously familiar with, but make no sense to someone playing the game for the first time. However, fear not, it all comes together. This is part of the magic actually, the way all the puzzle pieces fall into place.

In a very very very broad outline: our heros live in a hollow sphere/biodome type of thing called Cocoon which orbits the planet below known as Pulse. Ages ago, people lived on the surface of pulse before they migrated to Cocoon. The people of Pulse and Cocoon were engaged in a bitter war. Although the war long ended, the populace of Cocoon still live in fear of the world below.

Both worlds are governed by Demi-God type beings known as fal'cie. Occasionally, a fal'cie will choose a mortal to undertake some specific quest, making them a slave (or l'cie). One their quest, or "focus" is complete, that person will turn to crystal. If they fail their focus, they turn into a mindless deranged monster. Sounds like fun...

The story begins when the government of Cocoon discovers a Pulse l'cie in one of Cocoon neighborhoods. This also implies that somewhere on Cocoon exists a fal'cie from Pulse.... with me so far?

Anyways, the Cocoon government decides it's best to "purge" everyone in that entire area by sending them to the world below. Naturally this sparks fear and resistance.

It is in this, that our heros meet and assemble. I'm not going to go into any more detail in this review, as a full game summary or even a character summary would takes pages and pages. This is definitely the largest and most content packed Final Fantasy title I've seen so far.

Speaking of the characters, everything about the character design in this game is splendid. Their backstory, the voice acting, you name it. After the 30+ hours it takes to firmly become ensconced in the game itself, the characters personalities really begin to grow on you. It almost seems more like watching a television serial than playing a game.

That being said, there are parts of the game that seem to grind on forever. Towards the end it seems like there is fight after fight, with no rhyme or reason. By the time you reach the end of the storyline, you're almost glad it's over. The game's ending more than makes up for this though, in my opinion.

Oddly enough, despite being tired of fighting during the main portion of the game, I found it quite enjoyable afterwards. Taking up side quests that were incomplete or damn near impossible before the unlocking of the character's final development stages (which doesn't occur until the game is beaten).

The Playstation Network trophy system is also a big motivator here. At the time of this review, I have nearly finished all of the end game content. I have unlocked several misc. trophies, mastered every job at least once, and finished all but the final Mark Mission.

** UPDATE 8/14 - Final Mark Mission completed. 5 stars! I believe I'm done. I now have 68 % of the trophies in this game. The remaining trophies I have failed to unlock are for maxing out characters, 5-starring all missions, and 5-starring final boss. There is also a trophy for defeating a Long Gui (super strong adamantoise). Most of these I could care less about. The Long Gui is tempting.... but having seen all the content, and finishing all of the official missions, I think i'm done. Check out my trophies - PSNID - BaconMage. ***

To achieve full mastery and earn the platinum trophy, I still need to max out every job on every character, complete the Treasure Hunter trophy (by collecting every single item in the game), and defeat the last optional boss.

It will take me some time to level the characters up in order to beat him. I plan to do this at my leisure, and will update this review when that time comes. This endgame content is where the game really shines in my opinion. You can take the characters practically anywhere, to be successful in this stage of the game you must know each character inside and out. Their strengths, who is best in what situation, etc. It's all about strategy. It's certainly what distinguishes the casual players, from the hardcore.

For those that are storyline junkies, playing through the endgame content actually reveals deep deep backstory into the world of Pulse and Cocoon. This is why I do not recommend simply moving on once the final boss has been defeated. Playing the endgame content can be extremely rewarding.

All in all, this game is a lot different that previous entries in the series. Many of the Final Fantasy staples are there, but you have to look hard to find them:

Moogles only make an appearance in one of the in-game retail networks, one the lead characters Sazh has a baby Chocobo living in his afro (later in the optional content, you can ride an adult chocobo), there are also Cactuars and Tonberries to fight if you play the optional content.

All of the above considered, here is my breakdown.

Difficulty - 7/10 (for main game), 8/10 (including optional content)

Story - 10/10

Originality - 9/10

Soundtrack - 10/10

Fun - 9/10

Graphics (considering time of release) - 10/10

I know I'm not the first to review this title, but as a FF fanboy, and someone retarded enough to playthrough and review the entire series, I thought I'd give my two cents. Sorry that it took so long.

End of an Era.

2010-08-01T14:28:00.002-05:00

Even tho I don't often write about personal stuff on this blog anymore - occasionally I get the urge to provide a personal update.

This weekend was the end of an era for me.

I finally have decided to lay my 2001 Chevy truck out to pasture. Over the last year and a half, I've began encountering trouble with it, and the expense of repairing it is slowly becoming a money pit. Any friends from Facebook that also read this blog will be familiar with what I speak of.

This coming spring, my wife will graduate from college and once she obtains a job as a teacher our family income will nearly double. But I don't feel that my truck will make it that long, so thanks to my father, I have inherited his old '98 Saturn coupe.

While it actually has more miles on it than my truck, he has kept it in pristine condition over the years, so it's going to last much longer.

On the upside, I can probably sell my truck for a couple thousand dollars. The KBB on it is over 4k, but I'll be happy with 2, or maybe even lower.

I figure it will get me enough money to buy a new iMac as well as add a nice lump to my savings account.

With FFXIV just around the corner, I want a computer powerful enough to play it, my 2007 iMac is a great machine but lacks the graphics card required to run the game. Maybe a solution has presented itself.

I also have recently made the decision to quit my tenure with FFXI. It was not an easy choice, as I still have a lot left unfinished in the game. In fact, I made a little FFXI retrospective video that I'll be posting soon.

Needless to say, I'll also be posting a "chronicle and review of FFXI" very soon, probably once I'm done with my review of XIII.

That's all for now...

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

2010-08-01T13:57:00.003-05:00

Today I review the last entry in the GBA line of CV games, Aria of Sorrow.

This game continued the "castleroid" trend, so as far as originality goes, the formula is starting to get a bit stale. However, where this title lacks in originality it makes up for in story and fun.

This entry takes place in the futuristic time of 2035. The game begins when two teenagers (Mina Hakuba and a foreign exchange student, Soma Cruz) visit a japanese shrine to watch the solar eclipse. During the eclipse, something unusual happens and the teens pass out. When they wake up, they find themselves in a strange castle being attacked by skeletons. Out of nowhere a mysterious man named :"Genya Arikado" (aka: Alucard in disguise) appears and wards of the skeletons.

He explains to Soma that they are standing in Dracula's Castle, and that he believes that there must be something magical about Soma or the castle would not have called to him. Alucard suggests that Mina should wait in the courtyard while Soma explores the castle to find a way out. Alucard promises to look for a way out as well.

Soma soon discovers he has the unusual ability to absorb the power of monsters that he defeats in battle. So as monsters are slain, he learns new abilities that he can use in battle and exploration.

Throughout the game, Soma learns he is not alone in the castle. He encounters two very mysterious vampire hunters: Yoko Belnades and Julius Belmont. It is thru them that he learns that Dracula was permanently defeated by Julius during the "battle of 1999", and that to prevent Dracula from returning, Castlevania was "sealed away" in the shadow of the eclipse. Without any piece of the castle existing in the physical plane, Dracula's power was vanquished forever.

It seems, however, that some have taken advantage of the solar eclipse in order to claim the power of Castlevania for themselves. One such a man is the infamous cult leader, Graham Jones. Jones has the twisted notion that it is his destiny to become Dracula reincarnated. Soma has several encounters with Jones, one in particular in which he catches Jones attempting to murder Yoko.

As the story falls into place, it is learned that Jones is not the reincarnation of Dracula, but rather it is Soma! Soma vows not to let the evil power of Dracula conquer his soul and sets out on a quest to enter the deepest darkest depths of the castle in an attempt to destroy the chaotic spirit of evil that torments his destiny.

With Julius Belmont watching over him, in case he should fail and fall into darkness, Soma engages in a final epic battle with the demon of Chaos, and frees himself from the chains of darkness that enveloped his destiny.

The storyline really drives the game, but was a shock to many CV fans when they learned that Dracula was finally defeated once and for all, and they never got the pleasure of actually seeing it happen. Due to this outcry, Konami promised to make a game featuring Julius and battle of 1999. As of the time of this writing, we still have yet to see such a game.

Like the HoD this game has several different endings, depending on how many abilities you have unlocked and how well you've comprehended the story.

In fact, one of them can only be seen if you lose the battle with Chaos. The ending shows a possessed Soma sitting in Dracula's throne as Julius rushes in to defeat him.

All in all, it is a good game, and the semi-climax it has brought to the Castlevania franchise makes it a very worthy entry.

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1748: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Juste Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1830: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Nathan Graves vs Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

2035: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Soma Cruz vs. Castlevania

Difficulty 6/10

Story 7/10

Originality 5/10

Soundtrack 6/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 9/10

Playcontrol 9/10

Final Fantasy XIII - Loose Ends

2010-07-27T14:40:00.004-05:00

I finally finished XIII today. The storyline and ending were nothing short of epic. Now that the main game is over, the characters final abilities are unlocked and you get the opportunity to complete and side-quests and earn any missed trophies.

I'm going to finish tying up loose ends in the game, this should take about a week, and then I plan to put up my synopsis and final review.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

2010-07-24T20:53:00.003-05:00

I'm plowing thru these...

The next stop on the Castlevania series is another GBA title, Harmony of Dissonance.

I was EXTREMELY excited when this title was released because it is a "sequel" to CV2 - Simon's Quest. (Which is a my favorite CV title).

The game features Juste Belmont, Simon's grandson. The story is about two vampire hunters: Juste and his companion Maxim. Two years before, Maxim had vanished on a journey of self enlightenment after Juste was chosen as heir to the Vampire Hunter whip over him.

When Maxim returns he is terrible shape. Inflicted with amnesia he tells Juste that their childhood friend Lydie has been kidnapped and taken to strange castle. The two of them travel to the castle (which suspiciously looks a lot like Castlevania). Juste tells Maxim to rest by the entrance while he enters the castle in search of Lydie.

As the story unfolds, it is learned that in an effort to prove himself a worthy vampire hunter, Maxim followed in the footsteps of Juste's grandfather Simon by finding the various remains (or relics) of Dracula in an attempt to resurrect him and defeat him. By doing so he unwittingly became possessed by Dracula's spirit and summoned Castlevania back into the material world.

During Juste's quest in the castle he meets up with The Grim Reaper on more than one occasion and learns that in it's transient state Castlevania currently exists both in the material world and spirit world, and only by conquering both will be be able to overcome the dark spell placed on Maxim.

Eventually, Juste is able to rescue Lydie and confronts the "Dark Maxim" only to let loose a Wraith-Form Dracula. Like his predecessors, he defeats the count, and sends the castle crumbling into dust.

All in all, this title is similar to both Symphony and Circle of the Moon. The atmosphere bears no resemblance to Simon's Quest whatsoever, other than collecting Dracula's relics there is little outside of the storyline that connects the two games.

While somewhat of a disappointment, the game was very enjoyable. I have played a it a few times in the past, but I found myself enjoying it just as much this go-around.

Once the game is beaten there a few unlockable features. You can play as Maxim, or participate in a the Boss Rush mode, both of which are nice touches.

The graphics are a step up from Circle of the Moon, but the music is sadly subpar. While not terrible, it's definitely not what I would expect from a Castlevania title at this point in time.

Here's my final rundown and series placement.

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1748: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance - Juste Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1830: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Nathan Graves vs Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

Difficulty 6/10

Story 7/10

Originality 6/10

Soundtrack 4/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 8/10

Playcontrol 9/10

Castlevania Chronicles

2010-07-20T20:39:00.000-05:00

Next up in the Castlevania Series is a very rare and obscure Castlevania title. The Castlevania Chronicles.

This entry is yet another remake of the original Castlevania featuring Simon Belmont. However, this time the graphics and sound are much improved, and there is added dialogue and cutscenes. Many believe this is the "canon" version of the 1691 battle.

The game was released in the US on the Sony Playstation and while long out of print, is currently avail on the Playstation Network.

The game is criticized by many of being extremely hard, especially in later levels. I tend to agree to a point. But then again, considering how easy the next few entries in the series have become, I consider it to be a rite of passage so to speak.

Other than that, there's not much else worthy of mention as this title is simply another rehash. I'd be hard pressed recommending Chronicles over the original Castlevania, simply for nostalgia reasons, but it's definitely worth a look.

I played thru the whole game in three sittings, so compared to the newer titles there's not much content.

Difficulty 8/10

Story 6/10

Originality 4/10

Soundtrack 8/10

Fun 6/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 8/10

Playcontrol 7/10

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

2010-07-19T09:40:00.005-05:00

Back in the land of handheld Castlevania titles....

It's much easier for me to burn thru games when they are avail to me on a handheld platform. I can pick them up just about anytime, even when work is slow.

I have recently finished the next entry in the Castlevania saga: Circle of the Moon. Released in 2001, this game, for a time, was removed from official chronology by the director of the Castlevania series. It has since been re-added back thanks to a more recent title "Portrait of Ruin", but we'll get to the that at another time.

The reason for it's retcon? Many believe it was the fact that we have a new band of heroes no one has ever heard of before, and it takes place a mere thirty years after symphony of the night. (out of the standard "Dracula is resurrected every 100 years" theory). Like Legacy of Darkness, the director of the Castlevania series simply felt it did not fit and removed. As a mentioned, both titles were reinstated several years later. - There you have it.

This title is the first on the Gameboy Advance. It is similar is looks and style to Symphony of the Night, but much more difficult. The GBA has proven to be an excellent platform for the series as Circle of the Moon is the first of three games designed exclusively for it.

The game differs from Symphony with the introduction of the DSS system. This ability systems allows the player to collect magic-infused cards that fall at random from defeated enemies. The cards are sorted into two types: A deck and B deck.

You can combine one A and B type card to create a special effect or ability. For example, Flaming Whip or Whip of Thorns. Some of the cards also allow you to summon mythological monsters, which in turn grant character buffs or deal damage to monsters.

Many of the more powerful cards are difficult to find, but they make the game much easier towards the end.

The game takes place in 1830 where master vampire hunter Morris Baldwin has arrived on the scene of Castlevania with his son Hugh and his apprentice Nathan Graves.

They discover that Dracula's minions have successfully resurrected him outside of his 100-year cycle but before the heros can lift a finger to slay the weakened Dracula, the count springs a trap and a Nathan and Hugh fall tumbling down into the caves beneath the castle.

Being the apprentice hunter Nathan declares his desire to ascend to the top of the castle to both rescue Morris and defeat Dracula. Hugh slaps him down and tell him to stay out of the way, he alone will find his father, he rudely declines any offer of help.

Nathan is left alone with only the Hunter Whip to defend him.

From here, the game plays out like another "castleroid" You play Nathan as he navigates the various areas in and around Castlevania. Throughout the game there are few chance encounters with Hugh, who seems to be blinded by his lust for power and revenge. Ultimately, Nathan and Hugh do battle. Upon his defeat, Hugh snaps back to his own mind. It seems he was under some dark spell of Dracula's. He offers his assistance to Nathan and they rush off to throne room.

The two find Morris held prisoner, Nathan bests Dracula in combat and the vampire flees the scene. Hugh escorts his father out of the throne room while Nathan pursues Dracula for the final showdown.

Dracula's second form is that of a menacing demon. Upon defeat, the heros emerge and watch the fall of Castlevania from the peak of a nearby mountain. Hugh apologizes for his pride and greed, and reaffirms his commitment to train harder in case fate should ever call upon him...

Pretty typical Castlevania game. Not much original in the storyline, although one would has to wonder just who the hell these people are! What has happened to the Belmont family, and how did Morris and Hugh come into possession of the enchanted whip? Fans would not receive an answer to these questions for many years...

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1830: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Nathan Graves vs Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

Difficulty 7/10

Story 7/10

Originality 6/10

Soundtrack 6/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 8/10

Playcontrol 9/10

Final Fantasy XIII - Progress Report

2010-07-04T20:37:00.005-05:00

Still playing thru XIII, almost done with the core game. But there's a lot of trophies and sidequests to finish. I'm enjoying the title so far. The story is second to none, but the gameplay is a huge departure from other entries in the series. I'll address all my concerns and praise shortly once my time with the game is complete.

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness

2010-06-18T19:13:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the long delay in my Castlevania playthrough. I honestly have no excuse other than I was too lazy to dig out my old Nintendo 64. That being said, the other night we had an wonderful summer thunderstorm and everyone else was asleep and the atmosphere seems perfect for some good old Castlevania.

The next game released after Symphony of the Night is actually an old Gameboy title called "Castlevania Legends". I do own this game but since it's release, it's been retconned from the timeline. It tried to cash in on the success of SotN by tying the Belmont family tree in with Alucard. The whole thing was a disaster, and thank god it's been officially declared null and void. For this reason we'll skip it entirely.

The next game, interestingly enough has also been somewhat taken from the timeline. The next title was a Nintendo 64 game called simply "Castlevania" aka Castlevania 64. The game was rushed to release to meet a marketing deadline and was panned across the board by fans and reviewers alike. The controls were simply atrocious and many parts of the game that were announced pre-release were cut from the final title.

All was set right by a later release on the N64 the same year of a "Director's Cut" version of the game called - Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. It includes all of the original game with some level tweaks, new characters and other unlockables. That is the title I played thru recently.

These N64 titles are distinct for being the first 3d Castlevania games developed. The camera controls are still a little annoying, and compared to todays 3d titles the graphics leave a lot to be desired, but what the game lacks technically it makes up for in atmosphere.

When the game begins you play the role of a "man-beast" or werewolf named Cornell. After a long exile, he returns to his village to find it recently ransacked and his sister carted off by cultists. He ultimately chases them down to Castlevania. On the way he passes thru several different locales, one of which is the old Oldrey Family Mansion. Cornell soon learns that the head of the household has recently become a vampire and at the request of the mansion's misses, escorts her son Henry to safety.

Through his travels Cornell runs into a fellow man beast from his village named Ortega. It seems there has been some bad blood between Cornell and Ortega over the years, in fact it's finally revealed that Ortega has aligned himself with Dracula's cult in order to finally defeat Cornell in battle. All the chaos and destruction of Cornell's village was a result of Ortega's treachery.

Ortega gets his chance and confronts Cornell in one of the towers of Castlevania, after the battle is over, he is remorseful for selling out his village and Cornell's sister Ada to Dracula and he reveals her location to Cornell.

Rushing to save his sister he finds her trapped in a red crystal. Having no alternative, Cornell shifts into beast form and breaks the crystal to free her. However, doing so his "beast form essence" is absorbed by the crystal and will be used to resurrect Dracula.

The next portion of the game takes place 8 years later. You plays as Henry Oldrey, the young man rescued by Cornell in the first chapter. Henry is now a knight of the Holy Catholic Church and he has been dispatched to Castlevania to locate several young children that have recently been kidnapped by the Dracula's cult. It seems cult was able to use the power siphoned from Cornell to resurrect Dracula in the form of an infant. Now, being 8 years old, the cult is snatching up kids left and right trying to find their master.

In the third portion of the game you take control of Reinhardt a young man that shares some family ties with the Belmont clan, and in fact has come to possess the legendary Vampire Killer whip. Reinhardt's mission takes place at the same time as Henry's. While Henry is freeing kidnapped children, Reinhardt is hunting Dracula. Eventually, after tackling several of Dracula's minions, he comes across a mysterious young man named Malus. As soon as he is about to escape the castle with Malus he encounters another vampire hunter by the name of Charles Vincent. Vincent reveals Malus of what he truly is: The resurrected Dracula!

After an epic final battle, Reinhardt defeats Dracula and as always, Castlevania fades into nothingness.

Carrie's portion of the game follows the same storyline as Reinhardt's except you play as Carrie, a blood relative of the Belnades clan.

Overall, I found the game to be a nice change of pace, it is very enjoyable once you get the hang of the controls. (That was the hardest part for me). The storyline is intriguing even if it contains a cast of unfamiliar faces.

Continuing the tradition started in my last entry the game fits into the timeline like so:

1476: Castlevania III -- Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, Grant, and Alucard vs. Dracula.

1576: Castlevania Adventure - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1591: Castlevania Adventure II - Christopher Belmont vs. Dracula

1691: Castlevania - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1698: Castlevania II - Simon Belmont vs. Dracula

1792: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood -- Richter Belmont and Maria Renard vs. Dracula

1797: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Alucard vs. Dracula

1844/1852: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness - Cornell, Henry, Reinhardt, & Carrie vs. Dracula

1897: Dracula the novel

1917: Castlevania: Bloodlines - Jonathan Morris and Eric Lecarde vs. Dracula

Difficulty 7/10

Story 7/10

Originality 7/10

Soundtrack 6/10

Fun 6/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 7/10

Playcontrol 4/10

Winding down...

2010-06-05T06:50:00.002-05:00

My FFXIII game is winding down. Once I'm done I'll post it up.

Once I'm done with that, I plan on making a BIG XI post.

In other VG news: I'm about to continue my Castlevania walkthrough by dusting off my N64 and playing Legacy of Darkness.

I recent'y hacked my wii to allow homebrew apps and games, so I've been tinkering a bit there.

I have not forgotten this blog, so have no fear...

Still here

2010-05-11T13:34:00.003-05:00

Slow on updates... been playing FFXIII in my free time, and grinding away at FFXI, getting ready for some new additions to the game next month.

Taking a break on After Years until I finish XIII.

There's some new guys at work that have recently sparked my interest in Dungeons & Dragons again.

Something I've not messed with since I was 14 or so.

Other than that, I've been spending time with the family and reading Star Wars novels out the wazoo. bear with me!

FFXIII: First impressions

2010-03-11T09:54:00.001-06:00

Wow..... SE has outdone themselves. Thank god I bought a ps3.

FInal Fantasy XIII

2010-03-10T09:44:00.002-06:00

I could not contain myself. I waited in line at midnight for the release of Final Fantasy XIII...

My mind tells myself: "To really appreciate the full experience, you should wait until you've finished 7-12..."

But I can't contain myself. This game looks incredible! For once I want to experience it at the same time as everyone else.

Back in the day, I played FF games as they were released, I was on top of things. Then, as my teenage years hit, I lost interest. I missed the whole 7-10 era on the first go-round.

When I finally got back into them, I played 7-10 and caught myself up, but I never really picked the games apart like I used to a child. You know, opened every chest, maxed out the characters abilities, etc.

When I started my FF playthrough project, that was my intention. To "pwn" those games that i missed out on the first time.

So far I've done just that.

So now, with the my decision to play XIII, I find myself at an interesting intersection....

Im currently active in the 3 FF titles....

FFXI

FFIV: The After Years

and now FFXIII

My plan is simple.

I'm going to play XI like I always have.

In the meantime I'm going to take my time and enjoy XIII.

After Years, being a side-title, with receive the lowest priority.

For those that are actually reading this, I know that it has become a mess, but that's why I tag posts. A simply search for "The After Years" will give you everything you need, if you're interested in the that game.

Anyways.... off to start this thing.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years - Rydia's Tale

2010-03-05T09:23:00.002-06:00

On to the next chapter in FFIV: The After Years - Rydia's Tale.

I enjoyed this chapter, in way more so than Ceodore's. The focus of this chapter is Rydia, probably my favorite character from FF4. In this story, Rydia returns to the land of summons only to be dismissed by the king and queen. It seems that she is not welcome. She is naturally puzzled by this, but before she can get an explanation, the is banished by Leviathan moments before the Mysterious Girl enters.

The Mysterious Girl seemingly puts all the summons under some kind of binding spell. Rydia returns to the Land of Summons and discovers this only to be told to leave, that the entire predicament is some how all her fault.

At this point, Rydia heads towards the Dwarven Castle to brief King Giott on the situation. As it turns out, the dwarves have problems of their own. The forces of Baron recently came and stole the Dark Crystal. Puzzled, and concerned, Rydia joins forces with Giott's daughter Luca, and her two dolls Brina and Calca to retrieve the last crystal from the sealed cave before it is too late.

Upon retrieving the crystal, the party is confronted by the Mysterious Girl, who steals the crystal from them and vanishes. Rydia and Luca pursue her to the overworld where they encounter the Eidolon Titan tearing up the countryside. Without her ability to summon, its the battle is lost, just then a "Man in Black" appears to rescue them. He tells them that together they must hurry to Baron...

The chapter ends here.

So far the game has been an enjoyable trip down memory lane, but it's very random and confusing. The characters don't seem themselves and the story is always left feeling too "open".

I'm really hoping that the loose ends are tied up in the later chapters.

Now that Rydia's tale is over, I decided to tackle her challenge dungeon...

Ugh what a frustrating mess. Every other fight is with an annoying Trap Door or Demon Wall.

Once again, almost every time I open the chest at the end it's filled with garbage. In fact I have yet to find a rare item. I'm currently 0/7.

Think I take a break from it and focus on the next chapter, assuming I don't get sidetracked by the soon-to-be-released FFXIII. :P

FFIV: The After Years: Ceodore's Challange

2010-02-20T08:11:00.000-06:00

I've been taking some time leveling the party and working my way thru the Challenge Dungeon.

Finishing the dungeon is very easy for me now. Most of the party is level 40+.

This is an interesting spin on the way endgame in FF usually works. Basically, once you complete the first chapter you are able to take your character in a special "Challenge Dungeon".

The dungeon is filled with chests and strong monster.

Two of the chests always contain a random item each time you enter.

The second of these is guarded by a power monster called the Curse Dragon.

The chest he protects can potentially contain some pretty powerful gear.

I have the feeling that collecting these item will be important later in the game, perhaps by importing save data or something similar.

So far, I've managed to collect only two noteworthy pieces:

The Obelisk Lance (For Kain)

and the Sledgehammer (For Cid)

I've defeated the Curse Dragon probably about 7 times now and usually i'm only getting random worthless items.

I'll continue and a few more time before moving on to the next chapter.

Presenting....

2010-02-15T06:47:00.000-06:00

With the release of Final Fantasy XIII only a few weeks away... I took the plunge and got my hands on a nice shiny first gen Playstation 3.

So far I'm very impressed. I've been playing Dante's Inferno and Ghostbusters the Video Game.

Let me tell you..... Inferno is awesome!! My friends laugh at me, telling me it's only a mediocre title. That was when I realized that I've been behind the curve, I really don't play many current gen titles.

So i've made a decision that goes against all my "common logic". I'm going to buy and play FF13 when it comes out, even tho I have not played 12. Sounds silly I know, but for me it's pretty much unheard of.

I think that maybe it's time for me to loosen up a bit.

FInal Fantasy IV: The After Years - Ceodore's Tale

2010-02-10T14:00:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the long delay, I've been playing After Years on and off and so far loving it. However, I've been VERY into FFXI lately so that has consumed a lot of my game time. It's a vicious thing.

So far I've managed to complete the first chapter of the game, Ceodore's Tale: The Last of the Red Wings. Once again I'm going to revise how much detail I put here on this blog.

It's simply too time consuming to blog every little detail, what was intended to be a chronicle, turns out to be a novel.

So we are going to start keeping it short.

The game is very similar to the original FFIV. I'm digging it so far, the only thing that's been bugging me is the oddly aggressive nature of the random encounters. Sometimes it's like every other step and BOOM, you're thrown into a battle.

The title so far has focused on Ceodore, the son of Rosa and Cecil from the original as he undertakes his trial to become a true knight.

There are several new elements that make this game different than the original FFIV, one is the Moon Phase system. In this game, the phases of the moon affect your performance in battle. So often time you have to rest and wait for the moon phase to change depending on the strategy you need. For example, a full moon enhances magic but weakens melee attacks.

Also, there a new "band" system, the allows two characters to team up and unleash a powerful combo attack.

The main game follows Ceodore as he returns to Baron and finds it under attack my hordes of monsters. Something strange is certainly afoot, as his father Cecil begins acting out of character. Also, Kain appears on the scene with seemingly hostile intent. All of these things seem tied to a strange Mysterious Girl (who bears an eerie resemblance to Rydia).

For most of the scenario the game jumps between Ceodore and his friend the mysterious Hooded Man, as they make their way back to Baron - and Kain as he attempts to collect the crystals for the Mysterious Girl.

Eventually it is discovered that The Hooded Man is actually Kain, and the "Kain" that's been terrorizing Baron is actually his "Dark Half". Upon defeating his darkside, Kain is blessed with the title Holy Dragoon. With his newly discovered power, Kain and Ceodore enter the throne room to confront Cecil.

****

So far I've completed Ceodore's quest and Kain's Quest (which are both integrated into the main story here in the USA).

It was really cool seeing Kain overcome his demons and receive a blessing much like Cecil did in the original game.

With the main game out of the way I'm able to go back with the party and enter the challenge dungeon.

So far, I've not had much luck. Most monsters here make short work of my party. Regardless, I'm going to press on and try to collect all of the random treasures that are presented.

FInal Fantasy IV: The After Years

2010-01-27T08:31:00.003-06:00

Well, on to my next stop in the FF Series Playthrough. As I mentioned before, now that I'm done with the 16-bit era, I'm going to go back to play any sequels or side games. Where does that leave me? I find myself downloading the brand new title: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

I'm excited about this, because After Years is a new title that I'd never had the chance to play before. I've long been a FF4 fan, and seeing an official sequel to that game is certainly welcome.

This title is only available in the US through direct download on the Nintendo Wii. It seems that SE has decided to take a "manga approach" and release the game in episodes. So I've recently downloaded the entire game. (All $32 worth...)

The game is done up in the style of the original SNES game, so we're talking old-school music and graphics. Sounds like just the game for me :)

I'll start it in the days the come, and i'll probably make one post-per-chapter.

FFII: Soul of Rebirth - Final Review

2010-01-25T08:42:00.002-06:00

Here is my take on the bonus quest to Final Fantasy II: Soul of Rebirth.

This sequel is very very short. That being said, it's not for the timid. It's extremely hardcore, and only those with a deep love for Final Fantasy, and who have mastered the original game will find it enjoyable.

In the beginning the characters are way too weak for their environment. Assuming you can reach the town, you finally get the chance to rest and level everyone up enough to press forward.

One could probably play through this chapter in a few hours if they were lucky. However, I spent about 5 hours total getting all of the party members up to snuff enough so I could defeat Ultima Weapon and gain access to that legendary magic.

Once I had achieved that, the rest of the game was a cakewalk.

The monsters that are planted through out the castle have a very religious and gothic feel to them. I liked that. Also the idea of their being an Light and Dark Emperor added a bit of color to the original game. It was fun to see what happened to some of the beloved characters in the original title, after they met their end.

As far as the graphics and the music, not much has changed from the original versions found in Dawn of Souls.

I played through this title over the course of a weekend, and found it a nice change from some of the longer and more epic story-driven titles. It was a nice trip down memory-lane, with a few neat twists thrown in for fun.

Difficulty 9/10

Story 7/10

Originality 7/10

Soundtrack 7/10

Fun 7/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 7/10

FInal Fantasy II - Soul of Rebirth

2010-01-25T08:16:00.003-06:00

Well, as I stated earlier, once I finished all of the games from the 16-bit era instead of rushing right off to FFVII, I was going to deviate a bit and check out some of the sequels and side games that have come out in the series.

In 2004, Square Enix released a combo game for the Gameboy Advance titled: Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls.

This game was portable version of the Final Fantasy Origins title for the Playstation with an updated translation and a few art and palette enhancements. On top of that, there was now some new content added to each game.

For Final Fantasy I, there was a new bonus dungeon added.... blah.

But for Final Fantasy II there was something else entirely.... Yay!

A short side-story called the Soul of Rebirth.

Soul of Rebirth is basically just a really big, and extremely difficult extra dungeon, but it tells the story of those characters who died during the original game.

Now, before I begin I should mention that in the Origins version and the Dawn of Souls version, some of the characters have different names. This is because of bad translations in the early release. For example, Mindu (as he was known in the Origins release) is now called Minwu.

Gareth, however has a completely different name: Ricard.

Despite these differences, they are indeed the same characters.

To unlock the Soul of Rebirth you must first complete the original Final Fantasy II.

If you've forgotten what happened in the original game, you might want to read some of my FFII playthrough before continuing....

When you start the quest, Minwu wakes up after sacrificing himself to help Firion and the party obtain the Ultima magic.

At first, he is confused. Knowing that he died; he doesn't understand where he is or what is going on. Eventually he realizes that he is dead, but is trapped somewhere in the afterlife.

While exploring, he meets up with Scott, Josef, and Ricard. The four of them agree that there must be some unfinished business and they agree to team up to explore this strange afterworld and find out why fate has brought them all together again.

Eventually, they reach an otherworldly town founded by the departed souls from their world.

The town gives the party a chance to rest and stock up on equipment before continuing their journey.

There are two paths out of town, one leads to a place called the Chamber of the Seal. In this temple Minwu learns there is a second tomb of Ultima here in the afterlife, and if he is able to defeat the Ultima Weapon, he too can learn this ancient and powerful spell.

The second path, leads to a celestial palace much like Pandaemonium. This castle is inhabited with various devils and demon-like creatures.

It is here that the party can win some epic treasures, however many of them are guarded by monsters with names as legendary as say.... Lucifer... wow.

Eventually, the party reaches the top of the castle to see a familiar face. The Emperor!

However, this time he looks quite different.

He explains that when he was slain by Firion and the heros back on earth, his soul has split into two parts. The Dark Emperor, that Firion and company must defeat, and the kind, gentle, Light Emperor that stands before Minwu now.

He says that he has created this castle in the heavens, and sent Minwu here so that he could be forgiven. If the party agrees to forgive him, they can live here in the afterlife for all eternity.

As the party ponders this sudden turn of events, it becomes clear that the Emperor is attempting to trick them. While it's true, he has indeed been split into two forms. This "Light Emperor" is just as evil and his demonic counterpart. In fact, for the "Emperor" to be destroyed, both the Dark and Light Emperor will need to be slain.

So it is revealed that while Firion and his team did battle with the final Emperor on earth, Minwu and his departed companions defeated the Light Emperor here in the afterlife. Together, it was the work of both teams that finally brought peace the world, and an end to Emperor's evil reign.

FInal Fantasy VI - Final Review

2010-01-25T07:55:00.002-06:00

Well, here is my final review for the RPG masterpiece known as Final Fantasy VI.

This title has been the staple of 16-bit RPGs for years. It is impossible to talk of early entries in the Final Fantasy series without mentioning this game. Everything is included here, and might I add, it was done RIGHT.

The characters are memorable, and unique. The storyline is filled with twists and turns, and theres never a dull moment. It's packed with memorable heroes, magic, legend, freedom fighting rebels, an evil empire, and a completely insane ultimate villain.

Of all the previous FF games, this one is most like FF4 in terms of character development. There are no pre-set jobs, but to an extent, you can mold each character as you see fit. Close observers will notice several familiar themes, however. Sabin could most definitely be called a monk, while here is no doubt that Strago is a Blue Mage. However, the characters role in the party is never in the main focus of the game. A good player can use almost any character combination and be successful. In fact, that's part of the strategy and fun of it all.

The music in this title is arguably the best in the series. The various motifs and style used in the score for this game are memorable. In Japan, music from this game is often taught in some college classes due to its articulate nature and classical style. It's something that should really be heard first hand. The opera piece: Aria Di Mezzo Caratter, is probably one of the loveliest songs I have ever heard. AND IT CAME FROM A GAME!

This was actually the first video game soundtrack that I ever purchased. It's that good... (I recommend the Final Fantasy Vi: Grand Finale CD).

While parts of the game are very linear (especially in the beginning), towards the end there is much to do and see, and you're given free reign of it all. If you are playing this title for the first time, I recommend NOT using a guide, at least at first. Exploring such a vast open game and figuring things out for yourself is half the fun.

As far as games tho, this title, at least in my opinion is legendary. It's truly an epic fantasy that I have never forgotten since the very first time I played it.

At the risk of sounding like a total FF6 fanboy, I'll stop know and give it a numerical score.

Difficulty 6/10

Story 10/10

Originality 9/10

Soundtrack 10/10

Fun 9/10

Graphics (considering time of release) 8/10

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 8

2010-01-24T22:15:00.004-06:00

With nothing to do but tie up some loose ends and explore, several interesting things happen to the party.

The first being, Gogo.

While exploring an odd triangle shaped island, the entire party is actually eaten by a giant worm!

In the belly of this worm they meet a very usual person, the famed Mimic: Gogo.

Gogo agrees to join the party.

Next, is mainly just tying up loose ends before the storming of Kefkas tower. Among these are:

hunting down more of the legendary beasts and dragons (see my footnote to the last entry), collecting a few random Espers, and other treasures.

Two of the more interesting side quests involve Sabin and Strago.

Sabin learns that his former master Duncan is not dead after all, but training alone in a secluded cabin. Upon discovering him, the two spar for a while. The end result is Duncan teaching Sabin the ultimate combat technique: The Bum Rush.

Strago's quest involved returning home to Thamasa and learning that a good friend and fellow blue mage has been injured in a fight with a legendary monster called Hidon. It seems that tracking and slaying this beast has been Strago life's work, but Hidon has always eluded him.

Seeing his friend on the brink of death, motivates Strago to hunt for the beast one final time.

Of course, the hunt is successful and during the fight Strago learns the incredible Blue Magic: Grand Train.

Finally, with everyone (and then some) accounted for, and all loose ends tied up, I head for Kefka's tower.

The trek up the tower is rough indeed, with the heros splitting into three groups to nagivate the various passages and tunnels along the way. During the trek the last remaining dragons are slain and a wealth of power weapons and armor are uncovered.

After several epic battles the each of the three teams finds themselves facing off with one of the legendary statues. Once the goddesses have been disposed of, the final battle with Kefka begins.

In his first form, Kefka resembles a hellish horror straight out of Dante's Inferno. After surviving the first part of the battle, Kefka appears to the party a beautiful but twisted angel.

In the end, the heros prevail and Kefka is defeated.

Following Kefka's defeat, the heroes rush to escape the tower. At first Terra seems doomed, the destruction of the goddess statues has essential severed the link between the Esper world and this world. Its that Terra may not be able to survive in this new world. However, the human side of her and the love in her heart ultimately overcome, and she ends up remaining even as the tower of Kefka crumbles around them.

The party is showed working together to find their way out of the tower before it's too late. All that is, except Shadow. The last we see of him, he is seen ordering Interceptor to stay with Relm. It is assumed that Shadow remains behind in the tower to die. One can assume that he is still haunted by the demons from his past, of which we were only afforded a few short glimpses into whenever he would dream...

Once everything is said and done, several in the group decide to remain together, while several decide to go their own separate ways. Life goes on and now begins the recovery and the reconstruction of a normal world.

***

All in all it took me over 40 hours of play time on this title.

While it would be damn-near impossible to have a 100% completion rate on this game, I did manage to teach Gau and impressive number of Rage abilities, as well as getting Strago nearly all of his blue magic.

By the time I was done, Terra, Celes, Sabin and Edgar had learned all of the spells.

Viewed all the optional cutscenes.

Every magicite piece was accounted for (or upgraded), weapons and armor were maxed out, all optional bosses defeated and not a single area untouched or unexplored.

I've played this game many times, but I've never given it as much attention or taken my time as I did with this playthrough.

It was a lovely trip down memory lane, and I found it to be very rewarding.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but this time around was the first time that I actually caught on to the fact that Shadow was Relm's father...

The FMV at the end of the playstation version is also a nice touch.

Summarizing my progress in the game as I did with these rewinds, feels a little weird.

As, unlike my previous entries, I'm not chronicling every aspect of the game step by step, but rather telling the game story as a whole, but just not in as much detail.

I do find I still maintained a sense of satisfaction and completion, without the headache of having to rush to the computer after every play session.

I did mange to finish this title a lot faster than some of the previous entries.

FInal Fantasy VI - Rewind 7

2010-01-23T21:38:00.000-06:00

Next, the party catches up with Relm in the town of Jidoor. It seems Relm has been commissioned by the local millionaire Owzer to paint a portrait for him. However, when they arrive, his place appears to be haunted.

The group discovers a painting of the former emperor that gives some clues to the location of a hidden cave, as well as a painting possessed by a demon. After defeating the demon living in the painting, the team finally locates Owzer and Relm.

With Relm in the party, they zip back over to the Tower of Fanatics and manage to snap Strago out of his trance! Seeing Relm did the trick, and he rejoins the group.

With no other real leads, the adventurers head back to check in on Terra. Not much has changed, she still has no real will to fight and while the team is trying to persuade her, Phunbaba returns to wreck the village!

The party confronts him and makes good headway but two members are blown away by Phunbaba and incapacitated. With two people missing, the odds are not looking good...

Suddenly Terra appears in Esper form to save the day. Reunited with her old friends, she rediscovers her fighting spirit and together they destroy Phunbaba once and for all.

With Terra back, the group decides to follow the only lead they have left and they go out in search for the cave detailed in the Emperor's letter they found in Owzer's house.

The Pheonix Cave is a virtual maze of traps and dead ends, but by splitting into groups, the team is eventually able to navigate their way through. There's a lot of treasure to be had in the cave, but oddly enough many of the treasure stashes seem to be empty.

Once they reach the heart of the cave, they find out why. Locke is also in the cave! The party catches up with him just as he finds the one treasure he's been looking for, the magicite of the Phoenix Esper. All this time, Locke has been dealing with the guilt of Rachel's accident. By locating this magicite, he believes he will be able to wake her from her coma.

The party rushes back to town to try. It works to an extent, Rachel does wake up, but we knos she doesn't have long to live. He tells Locke that she doesn't regret adventuring with him, and that she loves him very much. Even though Rachel passes away in the end, Locke finds the love and peace he has been long searching for...

With nearly everyone reassembled, the party goes back to check on Shadow only to find he is longer where they left him. They hear a rumor of a ninja fighting at the new Colosseum to the north and go to investigate.

Sure enough, Shadow has been seen there. It seems he has been participating the in the bloodsport trying to win a special dagger known as The Striker.

Ahh it makes sense, the party actually found that very dagger in the cave on the Veldt not far from where they found Shadow earlier.

On an odd side note, Ultros has finally settled down and been put to work as the receptionist of the Colosseum....

In attempt to lure Shadow out, the party puts the Striker up for wager and they engage Shadow in a one-on-one fight. After winning against him, Shadow agrees to join them once and for all. (Of course, I ended up giving him the dagger :D )

With no clear goals left, the team heads back towards Narshe to see what remains of the frozen Esper. On the way thru the mines they run into Mog, who is excited to see them. He rejoins the group and suggests that they go with him to recruit a new member, the infamous yeti rumored to inhabit the mines, Umaro.

After some shuffling of the ranks, the team makes their way back to the location of the frozen Esper. Again, it reacts to Terra's presence, but this time actually breaks free of his icy prison and challenges the group. Once the contest is over, the Esper Tritoch gives his powers to the party to aid them in their quest, and the way to Umaro's lair is revealed.

It doesn't take long to find the fabled sasquatch. After a few rounds of battle, Mog orders the yeti to join the party. Seemingly subservient to moogles, he agrees.

The road to Kefka's tower grows ever shorter...

****

I had lots of fun exploring and finding all of the old members.

During this part of the playthrough, there was a lot of leveling and training. A lot of things not mentioned in the story-summary there included, uncovering new magicite, battling a few of the legendary dragons, and making the most of some bad equipment. (There a little mini quest involving a cursed shield found in the phoenix cave. A terrible piece of equipment at first, but after 255 battles, the curse is broken and it becomes probably the best shield in the whole game.... you know me....)

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 6

2010-01-22T12:21:00.004-06:00

Celes journeys north to the town of Tzen where she reunites with Sabin. She finds him single-handedly holding up a collapsing house that is about to fall. He tells her there's a child trapped inside and begs her to run in and get him out before he loses his strength.

Celes is able to rescue the child and all ends well. Sabin joins her on her quest to locate the others. Their journey takes them to the ransacked village of Mobliz where they find Terra taking care of all of the town's children. It seems that she is the only adult left in the village. Mobliz comes under frequent attacks from the legendary monster Phunbaba. The beast arrives while the party is trying to convince Terra to join them, she rushes out to fight it, but is knocked out. Sabin and Celes manage to scare the beast away.

After she comes to, Terra reveals that she has lost the will to fight, and all she wants to do is focus on taking care of the children. Sabin and Celes agree to leave Terra in peace as they continue their journey.

Using the Serpent Trench (which is now above ground) the duo find their way to the town of Nikeah. Where they learn that a man named Gerad is planning to loot the vaults of Castle Figaro. The two catch up with Gerad, who suspiciously looks a lot like Edgar. However, when he is confronted he denies knowing them and and flees.

The party tracks Gerad and his thieves to the caves in Figaro and follow him through a secret entrance to Figaro Castle. It turns out that the machinery in the castle has become infested by some sort of beastly tentacles and has stopped functioning. The thieves flee at the sight of the tentacles and leave Gerad and the party to deal with the Tentacle Monster.

Gerad reveals himself as Edgar in disguise. His plan was to use the thieves to get back into Figaro so he could liberate the castle. He rejoins the group and together they clean out the Tentacles, restoring Figaro to it's former glory.

With Figaro Castle back into commission and Edward at their side, the party burrow their way to Kohlingen where they discover Setzer at the local tavern. He is crestfallen at the loss of his airship and does not at all seem interested in fighting. However, after a good pep-talk, he gets to his feet and tell the party to follow him. He knows the location of a second airship, and with their help he plans to retrieve it.

It is here that we learn a bit about Setzer's past. The love of his life Darill died tragically several years ago during an airship race with Setzer. Reaching the goal first, he waited for her to meet him. She never showed. He learned that she crashed during the race and was never found. In homage to her, he built this tomb to honor her memory and rebuilt a replica of her airship and sealed it away in silent tribute.

The party is successful in retrieving the Falcon and once again, the sky is the limit!

The first stop is the town of Maranda, where the party meets a young woman named Lola, who shows them love letters sent to her by her boyfriend in Mobliz. Something isn't quite right about this whole scenario as the Mobliz has been destroyed, and only Terra and the local children are left there.

The party tracks a carrier pigeon from Maranda to Mt. Zozo where they discover that a heartbroken Cyan has been sending letters to Lola, impersonating her boyfriend. He is extremely embarrassed by the whole situation, but is heartbroke to think how she would feel if she discovers he has died.

The party takes him back to Maranda where he comes clean.

Next stop: The Veldt.

As suspected, the party finds Gau has returned to his life with the feral beasts. He is elated to see his friends and rejoins them.

The party notices that the old man's house on the Veldt is still there and when they pay him a visit, they realize that the man is indeed Gau's father.

It is learned that in his insanity, the old man believed Gau to be a demon-child and tossed him on the Veldt to live with the monsters. Sabin is angered by this revelation, but Gau seems to understand that his father is not normal and expresses happiness at his father's health. In a somewhat somber tone, the party leaves to continue their search.

While inspecting the cave on the Veldt, the party comes across a wounded Shadow! It seems he survived the cataclysm, but due to one of his recent exploits, he is badly wounded. The group takes him to Thamasa to recover.

While in town, the party hears rumors of monsters inhabiting Doma castle, so naturally, that is the next stop.

The castle itself is deserted, but that night while resting within the castle walls, they learn the truth. Doma is haunted. The demons that have been tormenting Cyan's soul are on the verge of possessing him. The party must chase Cyan thru his nightmare filled dreamworld, where eventually he faces off with the demon Wrexsoul.

Once this beast is slain, Cyan is finally able to make peace with himself and his honor is restored. A new man, Cyan rejoins the party and they continue their quest for the others.

While flying around, the party see's an unusual tower and decides to investigate. The Tower of Fantatics (as it has come to be known), is the home of a group of magic-using, Kefka worshipping, wizards. One of them seeing dancing around the grounds is none-other than Strago! However, he seems to be under the influence of a power spell and does not recognize his old friends.

With nothing left to do, the party continues it's search....

***

I spent a lot of this portion of the game grinding away skills and levels.

After finding Gau I returned often to Veldt. My strategy there is twofold.

First, it's the only way to teach Gau new abilities, plus it's a good way to learn spells using magicite.

I tried to keep all of my characters within 2 levels of each other at all times.

I probably spent 4+ hours just leveling on the Veldt during this portion of the game.

Time this part of the game was played: Early to Mid-January

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 5

2010-01-21T08:42:00.001-06:00

After some preparation the party reorganizes and sets a course for the Floating Continent.

On the way, they are ambushed by the Imperial Airforce, as well as Ultros and his new flying buddy, Chupon.

Once they are disposed of, the party docks with the floating continent and begins their hunt for Kefka and the Emperor. While making their trek through the flying island of rock, they encounter Shadow who feels betrayed by the Empire. He agrees to side with the Returners once and for all and joins the team on their hunt for Kekfa.

Eventually the party reaches the summit to find it guarded by a magical beast called Atma. After defeating the Atma Weapon, the party confronts Kefka and the Emperor. Kefka amused by the Returner's persistence, orders Celes to slay her companions and join him. She refuses, siding with the party and making her allegiance finally known. In a fit of rage, Kefka steps back into the forcefield generated by the statues and slays the Emperor with a magical attack.

Drunk with power, he pushes the triad of statues out of alignment and basks in the magical power that pours from them. The party tries to stop him, but he tosses them around like insects. With the statues no longer opposing each other, Kefka unleashes the ancient magic of Apocalypse. All hell breaks loose, and in a moment of honor, Shadow rushes forward to attack Kefka and urges the party to escape.

Terra and the others make a run for it, once they reach the end of the "continent" they wait for Shadow who re-appears at the last moment, and together they leap aboard the bridge of the Blackjack.

The success is short lived and the magical power of the Apocalypse is seen ripping apart the very planet, not even the Blackjack is spared. This event becomes known as "The Day The World Changed Forever".

The game resumes a year later with Celes waking from a coma. She finds that the Imperial Engineer Cid has been taking care of her. The two of them are castaways on a deserted island.

Shortly after her awaking, Cid becomes ill and Celes must tend to him.

After a while Celes decides to see if any of the others have survived and she sets out on a makeshift raft.

She arrives in the town of Albrook to find things have changed quite a bit..

It seems that Kefka as ascended to Godhood and rules the world from a tall tower to the north. He uses his divine powers to eradicate any who oppose his rule.

She also learns that since the world has fell into ruin, many ancient beasts of legend have emerged from the depths of the planet and are wreaking havoc across the world.

Celes learns that recently a strong looking man recently passed thru town looking for friends just like the one she is describing. However, he left for the town of Tzen to the north.

***

A lot of crazy stuff occurs in the this part of the game.

Once you enter the World of Ruin, The game really opens up. The main goal here is locate the remaining party members and reassemble the old team.

This portion of the game was played towards the end of December to early January.

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 4

2010-01-20T22:07:00.003-06:00

After escaping from Vector, the party meets back at Zozo to speak to Terra.

It seems that one of the Magicite pieces the party has recovered is actually Terra's father Madiun.

At this point, Terra's past is finally revealed. Her mother, a young woman named Madonna, accidentally wandered into the secret land of the Espers. After much debate, it was decided that she could stay. Maduin and Madonna fell in love and Terra was born. When Terra was still an infant, the Empire discovered the path to the Land of the Espers and invaded. Many of the Espers suspected Madonna of leading the humans to their sacred land. Hurt and saddened, Madonna decided to flee from the Esper village and return to the world of man. Maduin pursued her, but was captured by the Emperor and his men. During the battle, Madonna is mortally wounded and she begs the Emperor to take care of her child. The Emperor, realizing that Terra is the offspring of both human and Esper is intrigued and he does indeed take her with him before the Esper's can seal the portal to their world preventing further invasion.

Once the story is revealed, the characters decide that the best way to put an end to the Emperor's reign is to invoke the help of the Espers. Back in Narshe, the party regroups to discuss their battle plan. During that time, they catch a famous thief Lonewolf the Pickpocket lurking around town. Locke and the party follow him into the mines where he holds a Moogle hostage. The scuffle ends with the party needing to make a choice, save the pickpocket's treasure, or save his Moogle hostage. Of course, I chose to save the Moogle. As a reward, the ever-loving Mog is now a member of the party!

The party heads towards the Sealed Gate passing thru an abandoned Imperial Camp. Once they arrive at the gate, Terra stands before it an pleads with the Espers to assist. The party possessing Magicite seemed to excite the Espers beyond the gate and a horde of Espers comes flying thru ransacking both the Imperial Camp and the city of Vector itself. In the face of such an assault, the Emperor has no choice but to surrender to the Returners.

After a meeting with the Emperor, the Returners learn that he has imprisoned Kefka for war crimes and is willing to change his ways. He wishes Terra to negotiate a peace treaty with the Espers. As a sign of good faith, he withdraws his troops from all occupied cities and offers an official apology for the tragedy at Doma. He asks the party to join with General Leo and travel towards the town of Thamasa, near the mountains where the Espers are believed to have congregated. Terra and Locke agree to go, but the rest of the Returners are skeptical and decide to stick around to investigate weather the Emperor's motives are true, and to repair the Blackjack.

On the way to Thamasa, Locke and Terra meet with Leo who is escorted by Celes and Shadow. Still untrusting of Celes, Locke ignores her for most of the trip. Shadow is merely an employed mercenary.

Once in the town of Thamasa the party stops to rest, but observes some rather unusual behavior from the town citizens. It seems that many of the citizens in town display some magical ability, but the town's mayor plays dumb to the fact.

That night while everyone is resting one of the houses on the edge of town goes up in flames. It seems that indeed the people of this town do possess the ability to use magic. In fact the fire was started when a child's Fire spell went awry.

The party teams up with befuddled old Blue Mage named Strago and fight thru the flames in the house to locate and rescue his granddaughter Relm. Once Relm is found, the party escapes just in the nick of time before the house collapses.

We learn that this town is home to the ancestors of the warriors from the Magi War 1000 years ago. Hence the reason for some of their natural magical ability. Strago and Relm lead the party to the location of the hiding Espers. In the cave the party locates the statues of the Three Goddesses. The source of all magic power. The legend is, the goddesses turned themselves to stone, facing each other so that all magic power would always be balanced and the War of the Magi would never repeat itself.

Having found their hiding place, the Epsers reveal themselves to the Returners. But not before Ultros rears his ugly head again to cause trouble for the party. This time he's stopped in his tracks by Relm, the inspiring artist, when she paints a picture of him. After Ultros flees the scene, the party meets with the Espers.

The Esper's leader Yura agrees to meet with Leo to discuss a peace treaty. However, at just that moment, Kefka and the Emperor appear. It seems the whole meeting was really just a trap. A trick to capture more Espers and learn the location of the Goddess Statues.

Upon seeing the statues, Kefka goes completely crazy, he leaps into the magical field generated by the statues and declares that he has found the ultimate power. Left and right he slings magic around slaying both Espers and Leo. Finally he invokes the power of the statues causing a giant earthquake.

The rest of the party show up just in the nick of time on a the repaired Blackjack and whisk Terra and the others away. (Sans Shadow who is nowhere to be seen). As they fly off, the range of mountains float up into the atmosphere. The party decides they must make way towards the "floating continent" to try to stop Kefka before he rips the entire planet apart with his lust for power.

***

A lot obviously happens in this part of the game. There's a lot of backstory thats presented right up front and also a lot that you have to look for.

Staying in an Inn while Shadow is the in the party often produces some interesting results.

There are lot of flash back scenes that lead one to believe that Shadow has a deep connection to the town of Thamasa. Plus, his dog seems to take an unusual liking the to the little girl Relm.

Also the astute observer may also notice that Relm carries a special ring with her that only she can seem to equip. A ring left to her by her mother. However, Shadow can also equip it.... hmmm.

After the events detailed above. I took some time to level, learn some spells, and teach Gau some new abilities on the Veldt before I took off after the Floating Continent.

The events detailed in this entry were playing during mid to late December.

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 3

2010-01-19T12:42:00.000-06:00

Locke, and the others use Figaro castle's burrowing abilities to dig under the mountains towards the direction in which Terra was last seen.

The visit to the castle reveals a lot of history about Edgar and Sabin. Namely how the two of them settled their differences after their father's death. Interestingly enough, Edgar was chosen as king by the result of a coin toss.

There's also some interesting backstory for Locke as well that is revealed as the party visits the town of Kohlingen. It seems that this town is the home of Locke's old and comatose girlfriend Rachel. Poor Rachel's coma is the result of an accident she incurred during one of her adventures with Locke. It seems that Locke has never forgiven himself for the incident and this explains much about his desire to play "hero" every time there is a damsel in distress.

The group finally makes their way to the town of Jidoor, where they hear reports of a flying woman streaking across the sky just to the north, near the thieves town of Zozo. Taking a cue from the townspeople, the group finally locates Terra at the top of the tallest building in the city. It seems that she is being overseen by an Esper named Ramuh. Ramuh reveals that Terra is really part Esper and that she will need some time to come to terms with her new powers. He explains that not long ago, the Empire discovered the location of the Esper's secret home and began kidnapping them for use in the development of MagiTek.

While Terra is recovering, Ramuh asks the party to infiltrate the Imperial capital of Vector and free his fellow Espers from the clutches of the Empire. He then turns himself into a magical stone known as Magicite, and offers the powers of himself, and some of his fellow Espers to the party. Enabling them to learn magic by equipping the Magicite.

Unsure how to best infiltrate Vector, the party hatches a plan to steal the airship of a famous gambler. Through the rumormill, they learn that the gambler Setzer is planning on kidnapping his secret love Maria while she is onstage in the middle of an opera performance. It has been mentioned several times that Celes bears a striking resemblance to Maria. The plan is to put Celes on stage in place of the actress, so she can get kidnapped instead, then commandeering the airship.

All seems to be going according to plan until Ultros shows back up to cause trouble for the party.

*It's important to note that this Opera: Maria and Draco is a very important part of Final Fantasy history. It actually is mini-opera and in itself is quite popular in some circles. The music from the opera has been recorded and performed by orchestras that world over.

Once Ultros is dealt with Setzer indeed shows up and snatches Celes. It doesn't take him long to realize that she is not Maria. Her attempts to convince him to join are unsuccessful at first. However, she makes use of his love of gambling and tricks him into helping by tossing a two sided coin in her favor. Amused by her cunning, Setzer joins the group thus giving them control of his airship: The Blackjack.

After some rest and planning, the party sneaks into Vector and infiltrates the MagiTek factory. It is there they meet two wounded Espers, Ifrit and Shiva. After a short battle, Ifrit recognizes that the party is using magic learned from Ramuh, and offers himself and Shiva up as Magicite as well.

The party is successful in freeing many of the trapped Espers, which in turn ransack the facility. Kefka finally catches up to the party with his chief scientist Cid. Kefka congratulates Celes for leading the Returners into his clutches. Locke immediately believes him and becomes convinced that Celes was a double agent. Celes provides a distraction while the party escapes the crumbling facility by rail.

***

Lots of action during this part of the game, and lot more freedom than before.

The opera bit can be quite fun.

"Cid" makes his first appearance in game here as well as does an Airship.

I spent a lot of time in the lull between Zozo and Vector leveling and teaching magic to eaach of the characters.

This part of the game was played from early to mid december.

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 2

2010-01-18T08:14:00.000-06:00

After splitting the group up I was given a choice of which team I would like to follow first. I decided to go with Banon's group first.

Banon, Terra, Edgar, and Sabin leave the hideout via a secret exit above the Lete River. There they take a raft down the rapids where they encounter a rather unusual and theatrical octopus named Ultros. It is during the fight with Ultros that Sabin gets thrown from the raft and ends up getting separated from the core group.

Again you can choose which storyline you want to follow, I chose to continue with Banon's team. Who arrive safely in Narshe. The team follows a secret route through the mines to rendezvous with Arvis at his home.

From this point, I chose Locke's quest. Locke arrives in South Figaro to find it completely under Imperial Control. Through the use of several disguises and various forms of skullduggery he is able to sneak into the temporary HQ of the occupying army located in home of the local millionaire. In the basement here, Locke discovers that the empire is keeping a former general named Celes confined. Locke decides to free her, and after she shows no love for the empire he decides to take her with him. Together the two of them escape towards Narshe.

Finally we catch up with Sabin who was washed ashore from his fall into the river. Sabin finds himself near a giant range of open land known through the world as the Veldt. A place where animals and beasts from all over the world go to migrate. There's a small house nearby that contains a very unusual old man. The guy is obviously a nut-case so Sabin wastes little time at the house. On his way out, Sabin encounters the mysterious Shadow again. Shadow agrees to join Sabin for the time being. The two soon find a small Imperial camp and decide to do a little detective work to learn what is going on.

It seems that Kefka is at the camp and he's currently in the middle of an attack on the nearby kingdom of Doma. The castle of Doma is a strong fortification that even the empire cannot penetrate. Kefka's plan is to poison the water supply so that the people within the castle will die without even lifting a sword.

His plan works and everyone within Doma perishes, except one brave knight by the name of Cyan. Enraged by the death of his family and countrymen, Cyan storms the Imperial Camp.

During their little sneek and peek session, Shadow and Sabin learn that many with of the Imperial soldiers do not agree with Kefka's tactics, most importantly and man by the name of General Leo.

Shadow and Sabin have a brief battle with Kefka, chasing him through the camp until he finally escapes. However, at this point they encounter Cyan in his battle with small group of Imperial forces and decide to join him. Finally the three of them each steal a set of Magitek armor and escape into the forest to the south. Finally ditching the armor once they reach the dense woods.

At first, Cyan is very hesitant to enter the forest. He explains that is it known locally to be haunted, but having no choice he agrees to follow the others. Finally the group comes to a strange train platform in the middle of the forest. Cyan is even more freaked out this time around. He reveals he has a general fear of anything mechanical, but he changes his mind as he see the approaching ghosts coming from the depths of the forest.

Cyan explains to them they are aboard the Phantom Train. A legendary train that carries the souls of the recently deceased to the afterword. None of them want to ride the train to it's destination so together they battle their way through the ghosts and spirits finally destroying the engine just in time to get off.

As the three flee from the train they notice more spirits climbing aboard. Cyan recognizes the faces of his wife and child and tries to chase the train as it flies off into the mountains.

After a while, Cyan rejoins the group vowing to avenge his family and to fight with the Returners against the empire.

The group finds themselves deep in the mountains with only one way out, a leap into the massive waterfalls below. Shadow decides to leave the group at this point, stating his fate will take him elsewhere.

With just the two of them together, Cyan and Sabin leap from the cliff into the waters below. When they surface they find themselves on the other side of the Veldt. This is where they meet a very unusual child hanging out with a group of beasts roaming the field. The child, Gau was abandoned at an early age by his father and was practically raised by the various animals and monsters that inhabit the Veldt. After being lured with some food, he joins the party and shows Sabin and Cyan the location of some strange diving equipment he discovered in a cave on the Veldt. Sabin realizes this equipment is just what they need to regroup with the others at Narshe. Using the diving gear, the three will be able to navigate the undersea road known as Serpent Trench, which will lead them near the town of Nikeah. From there they should be able to charter a boat to South Figaro.

Once the whole team has regrouped, and everyone is introduced there is little time to waste. Kefka has begun his attack on the returners and the rebels must protect both their base and the Esper from the Empire's clutches.

The Returners are successful and the drive Kefka's forces out of Narshe, once the dust has settled, Banon takes the group back to see the frozen Esper. Once again the Esper seems to react to Terra's presence. Only this time, she transforms into a strange magical creature and goes flying off into the sky in some sort of uncontrollable rage.

Banon instructs the heros to track her down and retrieve her.

***

This content was played over several days from late November to early December.

Of course I spent a lot of time leveling and collecting all possible treasures. This was a lot of fun during the Locke's Quest portion, beating up various merchants and Imperials to steal their outfits so I could sneak around town.

Once I found Gau I probably spent about three or four hours just leveling on the Veldt and having him learn new skills from the various monsters the party would encounter. During this time I also made sure Cyan and Sabin learned some new combat techniques.

One thing worth noting, that's not very obvious in the summary above is just how whacked-out INSANE Kefka is. The guy is total sadistic lunatic. Despite this, lots of the scenes where he shows up are filled with plenty of comic relief.

Final Fantasy VI - Rewind 1

2010-01-17T14:43:00.001-06:00

Well, I've finally finished my FFVI playthrough. So now I have to figure out exactly how I plan to catalogue my play through of it.

Of all the FF titles, I've probably played this one more than any. I played through this entire game probably 4 or 5 times back on the SNES when I was young. I played it once on after it was re-released on the PS and again on the Gameboy Advance. So it's safe to say I'm not stranger to this title.

As I stated in the prologue post, I chose the anthology version of this game as it is true in content to the original and contains the extra full motion videos at the beginning and end of the game.

The following below is what would have been my first entry in the playthrough. All content is here, but streamlined and summarized.

****

The storyline goes a bit like this: Thousands of years ago regular people and magical creatures known as "Espers" lived together in harmony. When war eventually broke out the Esper's vanished, sealing themselves away in a secret land. Ever since, magic has become a thing of legends.

These days, the world is in an industrial age, most of the planet is under the control of an all-powerful empire.

The game begins when the northern mining town called Narshe uncovers a frozen Esper buried deep within their mines. This gets the attention of the Empire, and they send a team of soldiers riding strange walking armor/tanks, known as MagiTek, to retrieve the Esper.

The town of Narshe has secretly been an outpost of a rebellion group known as the Returners.

The Imperial team consists of two men: Biggs and Wedge, and a mysterious young magic-using woman named Terra. Terra seems to be under the influence of some kind of mind-control.

The team fights their way through the city using their Magitek armor and eventually reaches the frozen Esper. However, as Terra approaches it, it radiates a strange magical power that destroys her two companions and nearly kills Terra herself.

She awakes to find herself in the care of a Rebel Leader named Arvis. He informs her that she was under the control of a Slave Crown and therefor was being controlled by the empire. Terra does not seem to have any memory other than of her own name.

The Returners are headed to Arvis's home to arrest her, and he explains that Terra must escape as he will be hard-pressed to explain to the them that she was under the influence of a slave crown.

Terra escapes through the back door and flees into the mines on the far side of town where she is eventually cornered by a search party from Narshe. However, before they can catch her, the unstable ground beneath her gives way and Terra falls into a shaft below.

While she is unconscious, she dreams of a memory where an Imperial General named Kefka places the crown on her head and orders her to use her magic to destroy 50 Imperial soldiers as part of a training exercise. It seems that her strange powers have been abused by the empire for a some time.

The scene changes back to the home of Arvis. He is speaking to a young thief by the name of Locke. She tells Locke of the recent events and asks Locke to locate Terra. Locke, ever the hero, agrees to locate her.

He finds Terra just as the local police have discovered her location. To protect her, Locke and band of cave-dwelling Moogles fight off the guards and rush Terra out of the mines using a secret exit.

Locke decides the best place to hide out is in the outlying Kingdom of Figaro. He tells her the King while an Imperial Agent, is also secretly a member of the Returners. The King, a young man named Edgar is as charming as he is wealthy. He was one of two princes who where heirs to the former king. However, his brother, Sabin has not been seen for some time. Edgar's specialty is making the use of various bit of mechanical trinkets and weapons he and his people have developed for the Returners.

While Locke and Terra are visiting Castle Figaro, the deranged Imperial General Kefka stops by to pay Edgar a visit. It seems he has received reports of a young girl matching Terra's description taking up residence in the castle. Edgar tries to laugh it off, offering Kefka his pick of any of the lovely girls that inhabit his castle. Kefka leaves unamused and unconvinced.

That night, Kefka orders his troops to attack Castle Figaro with MagiTek armor. The Castle catches fire, but Edgar has a few tricks left up his sleeve.

His castle itself is marvel of modern design and is able to both avoid the attack and extinguish the flames by burrowing deep into the surrounding desert, escaping the wrath of Kefka.

As the castle retreats underground, Locke, Edgar and Terra escape on Chocobos towards a hidden cave to take them beyond the mountains to the city of South Figaro.

It is there in South Figaro that the trio decide to head for the Returners hideout and plan from there. While in South Figaro the group meets a mysterious Ninja by the name of Shadow. Shadow has a reputation of being an ruthless mercenary. The only creature on the planet that Shadow seems to have any affection for is his dog, Interceptor.

Also in South Figaro, the groups meets the wife of a famous Martial Artist, Duncan. She explains that just north of the town on Mt. Kolts, her husband has been training students, one of them being Edgar's brother Sabin.

The party has to climb Mt Kolts to reach the Returner's Hideout in the mountains and while they are crossing the mountain they encounter a rather angry man by the name of Vargas. Vargas, is the son of Duncan. He challenges the party and not long afterwards, Sabin appears to help with the fight.

As it turns out, seemingly Vargas became jealous at the attention Duncan had been giving Sabin and murdered his father. Sabin gives Vargas a taste of his own medicine using one of Duncan's secret techniques. After the battle is over, Edgar and Sabin reunite and Sabin joins the party on their quest towards the Returner's hideout.

Once they reach the hideout, they meet with the leader of the Returner's a man named Banon. Banon fills the party in on some recent activity regarding the Empire, most importantly the occupation of South Figaro.

Banon asks Terra to join their group, and eventually she agrees. after hearing Terra's story, Banon decides to take Edgar, Sabin and Terra back to Narshe to get a closer look at the frozen Esper.

Locke agrees to sneak into South Figaro to see what the Empire is up to.

***

This story summary basically sums up my first few sessions with the game during my playthrough. As usual with with me, I spent a little time after getting Edgar leveling up and making sure that everyone had top notch gear and equipment.

For the most part up until now the game had been pretty linear. That's about to change now that the party is splitting up.

This content was played on 11/21/2009

*Staples seen so far: Biggs, Wedge, Chocobos, and Moogles! Yay!

Lack of updates.

2010-01-11T09:34:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I guess this is more of an apology to myself more than anything.

This blog doesn't have many, if any, readers. It's always been more of something for myself.

I've just come off of a week-long vacation. It was very refreshing and much needed.

I planned to finish up Final Fantasy VI this week, and although I did get some playing done, most of my game-time was spent in FFXI and playing Lego Star Wars with my son. :)

It's been cold and snowy this week. School has been cancelled a lot and the roads have been icey.

I'll finish FFVI this week.

The last few days have been bittersweet in a way. I caught a special on the Travel Channel about Osaka Japan. Seeing the sights and sounds and the close-ups of sizzling street food nearly brought me to tears. It's silly, I know. But there is such a passion in my heart for the orient, Japan in particular that is hard to explain.

In a way, I think it is one of the reasons I connect with the Final Fantasy games. They are very japanese in their design, and I first played them while living over there.

Oh well, at any rate. I'll shut up now. Time to dress for work. There's stuff to do. At least I'm off tomorrow. So today is a temporary exile at worst.

A compass in the stock

2009-12-28T23:18:00.002-06:00

Christmas has come and gone.

I think i'm getting an ear infection.... 3 days left to get medicine before deductible resets! HURRY!!!

My son got New Super Mario Wii..... good times will be had.

I'm a little more than halfway thru with FF6.. Write up coming soon.

Updates about updates

2009-12-10T15:23:00.002-06:00

The holidays have hit and things have slowed down a bit in the world of video gaming.

I am about 1/2 way through with FF6 and I'll post more as time goes on. I imagine what I'll end up doing is giving a final game summary/achievement writeup at the end and then a typical review post.

On a somewhat related note, after 6+ years, I've finally hit level 75 on FFXI > <.

I'm a big dog now.

Final Fantasy VI - Prologue

2009-11-21T08:58:00.004-06:00

Here we go with the first entry of FF6. As I mentioned before, we're playing by some new rules. The game blogs for FF are going to be streamlined this time around. No more detail by detail and in depth story telling.

There are two modern versions of FF6 available in the US. The PS1 "Anthology Version" and Final Fantasty VI Advance, for the GBA. As has been par for the course, the Advance version includes new content. (IE: new espers, and dungeons.) However, the Advance version is the ONLY version in the USA that fixes a long standing bug in the game. (See the: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Evade_bug )

As usual, I chose the Anthology version.

I played this game more than any other FF installment over my lifetime. This game was originally released in the US as "Final Fantasy 2" back on the good old Super Nintendo. This would be my first time playing a modern version of the game.

I was glad to see an opening CG rendered cutscene showing the characters in the game, just prior to actual beginning of the storyline.

In a nutshell, the storyline has to do with a world that is devoid of magic, and life has a very "Steampunk" feel to it. Legends speak of war 1000 years ago in which magic users and magical beasts clashed in battle. Since that time, no magic has been known to exist.

The world is now ruled by a power Empire, who's technological advances have been used more to control and suppress people than to aid them and improve living conditions. The main character Terra, has been seen to exhibit some natural magical ability, so she was snatched up by the empire and enslaved.

This is where the story begins. And that's all I'm pretty much going to go into storywise.

Playing this has really taken me back to the early 90's. I spent hour sitting on a beanbag, with a bag of chips playing this. It's a miracle I was so skinny as a kid, honestly.

I started the game and I've zipped right along thru it.

The game starts with Terra as the main character. So far met: Locke, Edgar, Sabin, and had a brief encounter with Shadow.

I'm to the point where the characters are ready to flee the rebel base and split into two groups.

So I'm maybe an 8th in already.

Already in this installment I've seen the familiar faces of both Moogles and Chocobos.

I'll continue to update my progress with this game.

In a way I feel bad that I'm not going into so much detail this time around, it almost feels like I've cheapened the concept of blogging these games. But at the same time, it also make so much more sense to do it this way.

Note: The future of my Final Fantasy play-throughs.

2009-11-19T09:19:00.002-06:00

I've come to a decision after bogging my progress of Final Fantasy V.

I'm going to change the way I blog these games. Part of the reason it took me so long to finish FFV, was not the game itself, but the fact that there's so much dialogue and storyline in the game that after playing it, coming here to detail every single event, became like writing a short story.

I found myself NOT playing the game because I didn't want to have to sit at the computer for 2 hours afterwards just to detail every thing that happened.

The Final Fantasy games don't get any smaller either, and future installments will be even more grueling to blog in the same fashion that I have been doing so.

For this reason, I'm going to stop blogging the games in "story mode". Instead, I'm going to simply notate my progress. No one really reads this blog any ways, and it's more of a chronicle for me, than anyone else. If I find something in the game, I want to detail (IE: a boss strategy, etc) I will.

I'm going to start on FFVI today, and I'll notate it later tonight or tomorrow morning, and give regular updates, but they won't contain as near as much detail as they have. But at least this way I'll still have a chronicle of record, of my achievement.

Also, I'm going to break series a bit too. Once I finish with VI, that will be the end of the 16-bit era FF games. In the last few years, there have been a few "prequels and sequels" to older FF games. Such as: Soul of Rebirth (FFII), After Years (FFIV). I'm going to catch up on those after I'm done with VI. I'm excited because I've never played either one.

Also, as you may know, aside from the regular games, I've played FFXI for many years now. My wife plays too. I don't blog that progress here, although I should, it would be much more interesting :P

My wife and I are to be wed in the game this Sunday, so i'll break my tradition here and chronicle that a bit.

My ultimate goal now at this point is to TRY my best to get done with 6-12 before 13 comes out in March 2010. I doubt I'll be able to pull it off. But taking the step of eliminating all the extra "novel writing" will certainly help. As I will no longer put off playing just because I don't want to get too far ahead of myself on this blog.