Visit the poll on the right sidebar to decide which game I play next.

Particularly busy today, so I haven’t had time to play. In the meantime, I leave you with these thoughts!

So, is Cid really going to be a psychopath in this one? Let’s hope so. Every game needs a crazy guy.

I freakin’ freakin’ hate the Nidhogg. I will crush it and those damn bats that keep flying around it!

My, that was harsh. I sound like Egbert(sic?) from Suikoden V. “Crushsmasheviscerate those Godwin devils!”

You know what irritates me? The skeletons that cast magic. Why can they cast magic? They are just called skeletons. Not skeleton mages. When you die, do you gain the ability to throw fire? I must’ve been absent that day in Biology.

I wonder if I am underleveled right now. Party Level 12, trying to escape from an Imperial airship.

Speaking of which, I’m not quite sure what’s going on. So, we found the Marquis’ men, and they brought us to him, so we could speak with him, then he got us captured, and we met Amalia, whose the princess of Dalmasca, and the magicite I have is the dusk shard which can prove who she is, but the Judge with us isn’t immediately testing it, and that guy who Basch met back in Dalmasca, the head of the resistance, is masquerading as a guard on the Judge’s airship, and we have him in our party, because he was really with the Marquis, and the Marquis is our friend, and now we’re trying to escape from the airship, and I think one of the Judges is Basch’s twin brother.

Huzzah!

When I get back to Dalmasca, there is a wraith in the sewers I have to kill. It’s going to be a pain, and I am sure I am going to be using up a ton of Phoenix Downs, because its only attack is Doom. Doom is the most frustrating attack in any Final Fantasy. It’s a death spell, but a very cruel one. You don’t die immediately; there is this little counter which counts down to your death. You know you’re going to die, and there is no way of stopping it. There is usually no antidote for it whatsoever. You just wait and wait until finally your character keels over; then you revive him. It’s like knowing you are going to get kicked out of your apartment at the end of the month and being told you can’t pay the rent until after you get kicked out.

Visit the poll on the right sidebar to decide which game I play next.

Seriously, the longer the game goes, the more Vaan gets relegated to the wings. Yes, Vaan, you’ve discovered that the man whom you thought is responsible for your elder brother’s death is not the man. It was his brother, and he must deal with him. Oh, you can come along for the ride too, if you’d like. Yeah, Basch has some major Imperial butt to kick. And he will do it with honor! True, the Imperials have some fancy equipment, but Balthier has that covered with his impressive airship. Balthier has to deal with those bounty hunters on his tail, so we need to dedicate the rest of the story to handling that. You can come along for the ride, Vaan, just don’t touch anything.

Were that I was exaggerating.

You know, there is no point in specializing in this game. It is kind of sad, in a way, as the characters are bound to become carbon copies of each other once I figure out which equipment is the absolute best. I lean toward everybody eventually using guns and covering the gun-immune creatures with appropriate magic spells.

Migelo, by the way, is a caring individual. He gets really pissed at Balthier for accidentally getting Penelo kidnapped.

Fran doesn’t make much of an impression on me. I know, she is good at scouting, is wise, and has a quiet personality, but she feels more passive than active; just a vibe, I guess.

You know, when playing RPGs, I get tired of the people who say, “Ah, I’ll tell you that story when you’re older,” and “What? Alcohol? No way, kid, only milk.” It’d be awesome to play an older character and hear the reactions change. “You’re 22? Well, that’s different. Lemme tell you, the way he screamed, t’was like the noise of slapping a thousand fish scales against a chalkboard and scrapin’ your way down. Never heard nothin’ like it since. Damn, I got a million of these stories. Here, have a drink, on the house, we’ll be at this all night. Know what a behemoth’s teeth look like? Well, this unfortunate friend o’ mine…”

Balthier’s ship looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to see those gun turrets in action. Though, I do admit I miss the days when an airship was basically a big sea ship… with propellers. Makes absolutely no sense from a design perspective, and I never get tired of seeing them.

What is the Mist?

Oh, Vaan’s an idiot. We have Basch in the party. We are trying to keep a low profile so nobody recognizes that Basch is alive, since he is supposed to be two years dead, executed. What does Vaan do? First time we have a conversation with somebody, he calls Basch by his name. To an Imperial Prince, as I was to later discover.

I love Ba’s spinning weapon. This bounty hunter comes in with this gigantic rod with a spinning wheel on the end of it. He presses some button and it sparks to life like a chainsaw. Just awesome. Too bad I had to run away from him, lest he cut me to shreds.

What’s with their pronunciation of “Marquis”? They pronounce it “Mar-kwees”. The normal pronunciation, at least the American English version, is “Mar-kee.” Maybe I’m missing something.

During one of the cut-scenes, the game skipped. The Imperial Prince Lurso is speaking, and he says, “It is my duty-duty-duty-duty-duty-duty-duty-duty…” I had to reset. Thank goodness I saved. It might have just been dust. The PS3 I am using is the kind with the PS2 hardware, so it should emulate perfectly. Hopefully we won’t have another error.

Nidhogg. This thing is my dire enemy. It lurks in the mines and, despite being level 12 and trying to get the best equipment and spells, I still cannot handle this beast. I wish I could debuff it, but as things stand, it is way too tough for me to take down. I guess I will have to return.

Oh, I got to see Doctor Cid. This one appears to be an affable man of humor who talks to himself; he is, at least, eccentric. And well-dressed. Looking forward to seeing more of him.

I took the past week off to rest a little bit.  Work had become really stressful and while I had some time to update over Thanksgiving break, I decided to take the time off to have a complete brain reboot.  I had just gotten way too tired and I figured that would be the best way to keep myself from going completely mad.  In the meantime, I managed to beat Dragon Age: Origins the first time, so I’ll have a review up on Thursday.  I also saw Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, and I’ll have a review of that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I’ve mentioned a few times over the past couple of months that I’m replaying Final Fantasy XII.  Although it’s a controversial game in the series, Final Fantasy XII is my favorite Final Fantasy game.  It’s a bittersweet tale of magic and wonder, weaving dark political intrigue with traditional fantasy, dungeonpunk and some science fiction to tell a truly epic tale of love, revenge and politics.  I’ve mentioned many times that the setting really lets my imagination soar, but what really draws me in is the almost sorrowful way the game tells its story.  It has a happy ending, it is a Final Fantasy game after all, but there is a lot of  sadness in this game, and the characters are forced to sacrifice a lot.

Almost two years ago, a friend of mine once mused that all of the best stories are sad, even if they have happy endings.  I didn’t want to accept it at first, but the truth is, we don’t really accept “…and they lived happily ever after” as a legitimate ending after we’re 3 years old (because that’s the point in life we can start to ask “and then what happens?”).  I think part of the reason for this is because conflict is what makes stories interesting, and conflict will inevitably lead to some undesired outcome for at least one participant, but that’s not the real reason.  As humans, we have to sacrifice a lot to get where we are.  Not just time or money, but sometimes we have to give up things we truly love to get to a better place in our lives.  Sometimes it’s a hobby or something simple, or something important like a loved one.  When a protagonist reaches a better point without ever giving anything up, I think we feel cheated.

One of my favorite game of all time is Final Fantasy VI.  At the end, for reasons I’d rather not get into for spoilers, magic has to fade away from the world in order to save it from the psychotic clown Kefka.  It’s such a haunting and sad ending, but hopeful.  I played it when I was in high school, years and years after it came out, but it had a very profound affect on me, and it made me realize how much a heroic character will have to sacrifice to do what must be done.  After I finished that game, I had a better understanding of fiction, writing and characterization.

My three favorite games of the sixth generation of video game consoles were Jak II, Final Fantasy XII and Radiata Stories.  All of them had the heroes giving up something and sacrificing something they loved more than anything in the multiverse to do the right thing and save the world and help others.  I think that’s one of the many reasons why I loved those games.

Visit the poll on the right sidebar to decide which game I play next.

Old Dalan looks cool. He is easily distinguishable, as, unlike most citizens of the city, he has distinctly Indian features and a non-Western accent. Also, I think he’s the only man in the entire city with a pink cat. He knows Vaan, and is willing to help him get into the fete to go steal from the treasury. Unfortunately for Vaan, a fetch quest is in order. Go get a sunstone. The sunstone will show the way into the treasury. And you need the Crescent Stone, too. I’m not really sure why, seeing as how Kyte, Vaan’s friend, figures out how to open the passageway to the sewers that lead to the palace with the treasury; but, yes, the Crescent Stone is somehow important. Mind you, I don’t know how; it could have just been a rock that Dalan picked up one day.

By the way, Zodiac Spear: as some of you know, you need to not open certain treasure chests if you want to get it. Now, the important thing to know is that you cannot know what treasure chests you cannot open without a guide. The first one of these chests is outside Old Dalan’s house. There are about half a dozen chests scattered around Lowtown, and this might be the first you see; there is nothing special about its appearance or what’s inside of it. You just can NOT open it or you lose the opportunity to get the Zodiac Spear.

But an even better example of how screwed up this is? A bit later on, there is a room full of treasure chests. In one corner, there are two right next to each other. One of the two is safe to open. But if you open the other one, you are just screwed. You have no good reason to believe you should not open that other chest. You might think, far after the fact, that any number of these chests seem special; however, you would also reasonably think that about a number of other chests in the game. There is just no way of knowing. It is ridiculous.

By the way, strangest thing: the first time I opened the chest in the palace by accident. I reloaded the game and the chest was gone! I reloaded again and it was there once more.

Back to the Lowtown part of the game…
The people in Lowtown actually represent the majority of the city’s original population. They were forced down here when Archadia invaded two years ago. If they have money, they can afford to move back into the upper part of the city. You’d think they’d be bitter, but many of them have given up. The younger children don’t all recall actually living on the surface, and at least one of them is confused as to why the adults consider the Archadians to be enemies.

There is a cool courtyard down here; an open plaza with ivy growing on it and some cool lighting. It is surprisingly pretty in contrast with the rest of Lowtown, which still somewhat resembles the storage warehouse it once was.

The Demented Merchants are hilarious. One of them advertises his hand-crafted swords and offers to let you see them. He just won’t sell them to you. Another begins talking about his wares, but turns you away because he doesn’t sell to children [emphasis his]. You’d think he was selling liquor the way he’s talking.

I had to go to the Giza Plains (possibly a take on the Gaza Strip) to find a sunstone that the nomads there could give me. Along the way, I had to battle some hyenas. In one of the battles, these seemingly-innocent white rabbits interfered by casting CURE on one of the Hyenas.

By the way, the cactoid dance is funny. Wibble-wobble. They’re like those things from Animal Crossing. Remember Animal Crossing? Whatever happened to that series?

Fighting the Flowering Cactoid was an exercise in patience. It has a very high chance of parrying attacks, and even with Panela in my party, it took a long time to take down. This was exacerbated by the fact that, twice, it ran off to find a mob of enemies to help it, and if I didn’t catch up quickly enough, it began healing itself!

I wonder if there will be some romance between Vaan and Panela.

Oh, almost forgot to mention: in the Giza Plains, I encountered the werewolves. I really ought to listen when people warn me not to fight something. I tried attacking the werewolves; these are gigantic creatures, humanoid wolves with cleavers. And I was just plain curious. Yes, I died. Very quickly. Very painfully.

Anyway, I got the sunstone from a kid who had been sent to make them. Basically, you take a shadestone, then find the Dark Crystals, which absorb sunlight, and use the Dark Crystals to fill the shadestone with their light; tada, sunstone. As for the kid himself, he was laid up for a bit – seems he tried to tease the werewolves and nearly got himself killed.

Balthier is my favorite character. British, “Spike”-like, voice, cool outfit, lots of memorable quotes, and he uses a gun. Mm, also, he’s a sky pirate and would fit in well with Vyse and the gang. Plus he’s good-looking, but that’s just a bonus.

Okay, something I have to say about Vaan’s voice: he has the most hilarious laugh. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it sounds really fake and whiny. I’ve heard it twice so far, and all I can think is, “this is not an adventurer.”

Playing this game gives me the urge to play an MMORPG I have never played. It’s like I’m playing this game and I keep thinking, “Man, I really feel like playing FFXI.” But I have never played it – at all. I just feel like I know exactly what it would feel like; a group version of this one.

I like their explanation for guest characters. “Think of Amalia as a ‘guest’.” Heh, classy. Speaking of which, Amalia is kewl.

All flans shall now be known as “jelly tits”. Juvenile, yes, but also an accurate description. Look at them. It seriously looks like they have more breasts than a fertility goddess. That said, they’re hideous beyond compare.

When I fought the Firemane, a gigantic flaming horse… of fire…, I used the Water Mote I had been saving up on it. The results were splendid. I did over 300 points of damage. Overall, the boss was cool looking, since he occasionally burst into magnificent flames and unleashed his ultimate attack, but he wasn’t terribly difficult.

A line I like, from when the party gets captured shortly after taking down the Firemane:
Amalia: They think me a common thief.
Balthier: Better than a common assassin.

Seems Balthier has some lizard-men on his tail. What is the name of that race?

Oh, by the way, it seems that at least part of the dungeon in which they look up the party does not have a roof. Seems like a glaring oversight, though I suppose it doesn’t matter if the walls cannot be scaled.

After being stuck in this dungeon for a while, I go exploring and find myself getting into a fist fight against a bunch of these large, round-bellied creatures with sharp teeth and big muscles. I keep forgetting exactly what they’re called. Anyway, the fist fight was kind of cool. We are in a little arena and Balthier jumps in to join the fight and save Vaan from getting his ass kicked.

Also, judges are back! And much cooler than they were in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. They’re now fanatical law-enforcers; of course, they didn’t much change the design; they have these cool capes and awesome helmets. I would be intimidated if I had to confront one of these people.

Ba’Gahman, I guess, is the name of Baltheir’s enemy.

By the way, Fran’s voice… sounds suspiciously like the voice of whomever did that of the unicorn from “The Last Unicorn”. Good movie, by the way. You should see it, or better yet, read the book. Great fantasy read.

Also, Basch lives! So, it turns out that maybe he didn’t betray his kingdom. It might have been his twin brother. I don’t get how that works out…

I fought the Mimic Queen. Incredibly easy battle. It was like she was one of those queens from the Alien movie, dropping pods that ran around and… the comparison stops at the point where the mimics eat electricity (What’s with mimics and electricity in this game? Just bizarre). Anyway, easy boss fight. Not very scary. Though the Mimic Queen is kind of cool looking, what with her rainbow design.

Also, on my way back to Dalmasca, I saw a wandering lizard-man with a spear. I wonder what that is all about.

Oh, and when we get back to Dalmasca, there is this point when Vaan talks to himself. It is kind of weird because he is talking aloud. Is there any real reason for that?

One last thing: the moogling. Awesome term.

Last updated: Mon Dec 01 11:22am PST
(Page updated daily)

Welcome to e3vL Video Game News, your hub for the week’s video game industries news and releases. Bookmark the site if you find it helpful and would you kindly refer a friend? Hope you enjoy your stay and happy gaming!

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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker dated for March 18 2010
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Fist of North Star Musou set for March
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Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Black Friday console sales stats
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Dante’s Inferno Demo PS3 timed exclusive
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Final Fantasy XIII box art
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Cid revealed in Final Fantasy XIII
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Nintendo sells more than 1.5million hardware units during holiday weekend
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Prince of Persia writer wins Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award
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Nokia demos retro emulators games in commericals
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Microsoft’s Gates Subpoenaed in RROD Suit
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Sonic Relief 2010 ideas wanted
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Ubisoft planning 10 games for Natal, 4-5 for PS Motion controller
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PC Beta Delayed
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New Prince of Persia Announced
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Nintendo: Wii Sales up 85% since price reduction
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Media Molecule won BAFTA awards
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HMV drops PSPgo price to 148.99 GBP in UK
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Amazon Germany lists Yakuza 3
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Xbox Live on iphone and Ipod Touch
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Bill Gates on Natal
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New Challenges for Nintendo
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Link take to the skies in next Zelda
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Nintendo investigating possible copyright infringement by Nokia
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Free Dragon Ball Raging Blast DLC
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Final Fantasy XIII commercials kick off
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Final Fantasy XII JP back of the box details
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Microsoft: Natal as next TV remote
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Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda based off VG series
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Ubisoft on 3d gaming
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King of Fighters live action movie
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Alone in the Dark 2 movie sequel to DVD
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Splinter Cell Conviction co-op confirmed
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Eidos: Thief 4 coming in ‘leaps and bounds’
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Xbox 360 iplayer launch delay
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Decide which game I play next. Visit the Game Vote Page on the right sidebar.

Ah, the classic struggle of empire (bad) vs kingdom (good). Well, I can’t blame them for sticking with a formula.

The intro is gorgeous, more like what I would have expected from a PS3 game. It looks like they pushed the PS2’s hardware to its limits for the CGI. The in-game graphics (is there a better term for that?) are also pretty good; despite how complicated the first city is, and how many people there are on screen at once, it never suffers slow down.

My only two problems are really with some of the character designs. Although most of them are fantastic, it seems like half of the characters look sleepy-eyed, including Vaan. Look closely and you will see the bags under their eyes; it’s really weird, like they were going for some sort of facial realism, and it just didn’t work. Speaking of Vaan, he also has the weirdest abs I have ever seen on a character. Ugh. Beside that, he’s your standard pretty boy.

The eclectic mix of races, one of the hallmarks of the Ivalice setting, returns. The presence of these creatures as everyday people is part and parcel of making this game’s high fantasy setting interesting. I hope that as the game progresses, I will get to learn more about the interaction, differences and similarities between the races.

I’m happy for the voice acting. Even after playing several games in a row with VAs, I am still impressed when I hear good VAs. Guess I need to play a few more modern RPGs before it really sinks in and feels like the norm.

Also, war! This director’s classic style of story. Hold on… what IS the first director’s name? *checks Wikipedia* Yasumi Matsuno

So far, it’s a standard war story. Country A and Country B are fighting. Country C is in the middle. Country A claims Country C, and now Country C’s people are upset. And thus ensues viva la revolucion or somesuch. We’ll see how this turns out.

I am still a bit on the fence about the design of the fighter ships. There is a point when fantasy begins to resemble sci-fi so much that it lessens my enjoyment; these ships, with their sleek designs, laser/machine gun-like fire, and glowing parts bear such a strong resemblance to alien crafts that it actually kills a bit of the charm for me; well, I am sure I will get used to them.

By the way, anybody else notice how chocobos have gone from cute fluffy methods of transporation to mobile death machines? I’m not complaining; I just find it funny. Don’t mess with chocobos.

The Prince goes down from an arrow to the gorget! It’s worth mentioning just because this is one of the few times I will get the opportunity to mention the word “gorget” in a relevant context.

So, what is the state of Dalmasca, the home country of our character, at the start of the game? Screwed by Archadia (pronounced Ar-kay-dee-uh).

We meet Reks, a young soldier defending Dalmasca, as he and his compatriots are trying to get to the king to protect him from possible Archadian treachery on the day of signing a peace treaty.

They make a point about how young Reks is for a soldier, at only 17 years old. Historically speaking, however, if you were destined to become a warrior (and he is a knight), you probably trained for it since childhood. You were probably a full-fledged knight (and married) by the age of 14. Of course, this being a fantasy setting, modern age restrictions influence the sensibilities of the game world, so “He’s 17! OMG, not even 18! That’s crazy! How’d he get to be a KNIGHT that young?!” when the proper reaction would be more along the lines of, “He’s 17! How did he survive on the battlefield all these years? He even has all of his fingers and both his eyes! Truly miraculous!”

Also, Basch is awesome, as he just cuts down soldiers like they’re nothing. In fact, he does it so well that I rarely get a chance to see Reks kill anybody. Too bad he turns out to be a betraying bastard and cuts down the king, thus dooming us all to a worse fate than the original peace treaty would have had.

Also, go-go earlier game references: Tonberry, Antlion.

I have one problem with the combat system: it feels like it takes too long to take actions. I suspect this will change as I gain levels and new abilities and weapons, but for now, I want to keep just mashing the “x” button, hoping to swing faster. Of course, that just slows down combat.

Oh, also, damn this inverted camera system! I have been playing for several hours and I am still not accustomed to it. I really wish they had included the option to switch it around, like in Okami.

Anyway, Reks dies, the kingdom falls, boo-hoo, and two years later, Vaan steps into the spotlight. Vaan is Reks’ younger brother, and since the country was overrun, and his older brother slain, Vaan has joined a secret rebellion dedicated to defeating the Imperials. Kidding. He’s killing rats and running errands for the Imperial party planner. A harsh analysis, true, but his starting goals seem rather petty: he is a thief whom wants to become a sky pirate. Unfortunately, I don’t see Vyse anywhere, so I doubt it will have the same sort of awesomeness as “Skies of Arcadia”. But, really, who could be as cool a sky pirate as Vyse?

But enough bitching about Vaan’s downsides. On the plus side, he has the Steal skill, and so he’s a bit like Zidane from FFIX, which means… you know, I think I’m going to just stop talking about Vaan for now.

I’m very fond of Migelo’s voice. When he speaks, he mixes in these strange guttural noises that fill all the blank space in his speech. It’s a pretty cool way of making him stand out, even moreso than his awesome blue-and-white scale patterning.

Licensing feels a touch artificial. Do you really mean to say that I need to learn how to put on every hat in the game? “My goodness, it’s a red hat! I’d like to wear it, but should I put it on my knee or my elbow?” They could have at least come up with some BS explanation about how you need an in-game license to wear certain equipment and use certain skills, but no, you just need to get the points.

Now, the license system does act as a handicap that prevents you from spending all your money frivolously, and keeps the game’s challenge rating relatively high, at least at first. I expect this to break down somewhere around the halfway point.

Go-go Rogue Tomato! It looks like I was hunting down one of the sacks from “Little Big Planet”. Pretty cool that they made it a two part battle. If they do more of this, then they really are making good use of their real-time battle system.

What is the secret of the Libra skill?

The city feels huge. Of course, after visiting all the districts, it feels much smaller. However, you can still feel the grandeur of it, particularly with the dozens of people who populate the places you can visit. The city has a bunch of people you cannot talk to and doors you cannot open, which make the city feel larger, while not populating it with unnecessary clutter.

Also, the characters are sometimes well-spoken. The game really doesn’t talk down to you with its dialogue, which I appreciate.

Hm, though, why is there both a clan and a bounty board?

Imagine if the guards knew about whatever Vaan was going to do. I mean, right then at the start of the game. Do you suppose the villain’s minions kick themselves for not getting rid of your character when they had the opportunity way back when?

Also, it says that Migelo signed the writ that got Vaan out of the city. But I thought it was Tomaj, who had given me a writ to go bounty hunting.

The critical hit system is kinda cool. Instead of doing extra damage, you just attack several more times. At least, that’s how Vaan operates with his first weapon.

Vayne Solidor – I do believe he was the man who was present when the city was taken over. He is well-spoken, elegant, charismatic (hey, he got the entire city to think he’s on their side), and he’s a handsome guy who doesn’t look bishi. Strangely, his hair seems to shift from brown to gray from CGI to normal game animation.

I wonder who Lord Gramis is.

Defeating Thexteria was an intense experience. To get the requisite experience, I ended up traveling across most of the East and Western desert, buying some better armor, getting Cure, then engaging in an epic battle against Thexteria, three wolves, another which he summoned, and hyper Thexteria (ie. Thexteria when it began using its best attacks when it became very injured).

That considered, I wonder if I stand a chance against the third bounty. x.x

I think I will just go ahead with the main story at this point.

Decide which game I play next. Visit the Game Vote Page on the right sidebar.

Like I have said before, I like the Final Fantasy series. Sure, it isn’t hardcore gaming, but not everything must be. The music is generally fantastic, the characters are at least passably interesting, and the stories, while not extremely deep, do move at a good pace and are presented with an epic feel. The designers usually succeed in their attempt to appeal to a broad fan base, and as long as you don’t have a sense of gaming elitism, you should be able to at least enjoy Final Fantasy.

So, one of the things that most excites me about this game is that the original director is the guy who created the Ivalice setting. I don’t always like his games, but his setting has a lot of beauty and depth, and I expect to see that in this game. Unfortunately, the change of directors means that his full vision won’t be realized, but I’m sure the game is still good.

On that note, I have heard mixed reviews about the game. Most people like it, but a few people have talked about how absurdly easy it is, or that they just generally do not like this particular entry. Personal preference, I suppose.

By the way, I wish Japan had released the International version here. You know, the version with all the fancy new things. The version released only in Japan. I wonder if Square-Enix knows what irony is.

Well, that won’t stop me from playing the game. I have come to realize that you don’t need an updated version to enjoy the game; sure, it’s nice, and preferable, but this is still the same game. So, onward! To FFXII!

I hope all of you enjoyed Thanksgiving. Onward, to more gaming!

I just beat Riviera for the second time. Review is coming down the line shortly. And after that, my pre-play impressions for Final Fantasy XII. Stay tuned.

With one month away until the release of Final Fantasy XIII in the Japanese market, this long-awaited RPG seems to be already expecting a huge amount of sales.

According to Taketo Matsuo, responsible for the  Tsutaya “game Recycle Planning Group”, which takes care to gather information and distribute to more than 450 retails shops around the world, the advance orders for Final Fantasy XIII have already exceeded, by now, the number of pre-orders Final Fantasy XII had.

Matsuo hopes that FFXIII will be one of games most sold throughout the year, expecting million copies sold. Matsuo tells us that despite the harsh season last year and sales of Dissidia, this year’s line-up, in contrast, is something that only happens “once in 10 years” as new Final Fantasy, Super Mario and Zelda, support long sellers like Dragon Quest IX and Pokemon Gold Silver Heart and Silver Soul, he hopes that this will be a great year for consoles.

Will Call of Duty reaches the top 10 sales in Japan? If so, Square Enix will be very pleased to receive two titles in 1st and 10th place in December.

On Halloween night, people have gathered in mass at Salle Pollack to ruin thousands of children’s Halloween night in favor of watching a concert in tribute to Final Fantasy. Yes, instead of staying home and waiting for the good old door bell and kids going ‘Trick-or-Treat’ before handing them candy, people went to watch an amazing performance done by l’Orchestre de Jeux Videos…

I, unfortunately, did not bring my camera so I do not have any pictures to put up here. However, someone kindly took some videos of the concert and have posted them up on Youtube. And of course, as last time’s concert, the encore was once again the Final Fantasy VI medley!!

And of course, they have also told us that of their next upcoming concert being held at Cegep Marie-Victorin. Tickets are 10$ for students and 12$ regular and can be reserved by calling 514 325-1050 (extension: 2668). Another concert by the OJV on the 18th of November 2009, a must watch!!!

The best-selling game in 2006 and the twelfth installment of the Final Fantasy series it’s likely to be the best game ever made for the Playstation 2. With the introduction of new innovations such as “gambits”, real-time battles, a “license” point system and much more.

• THE PLOT

It takes place on the continent Ivalice, with the same name of the GBA’s FF game, Final Fantasy Tactics, where a endless war wages between the empires of Archadia and Rozarria.
Dalmasca, a small kingdom of Ivalice, is invaded by the Archadian soldiers, and princess Ashe dares to oppose them and creates a resistance movement, alongside with Vaan, a young dreamer who wants to command an airship of his own, and other teammates, rallying against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.

• THE GAMEPLAY

Final Fantasy XII experiences a new and innovated game system. Random Battles are a no go this time, and the implement of the new character controlling system called Gambit lets you control all the members on your party. No you won’t control them with two controllers. You’ll be allowed to program each character to perform certain commands in battle in response to specified conditions.

License Board is another new implement on this title, similar to Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid, which gives each character “permits” as they earn enough License Points. The board is split into two parts; the upper part contains Magick, Technick, Accessory, and Augment licenses. the bottom part is filled mostly with Weapon and Armor licenses. To use a Magick, Technick, or piece of equipment, the character must obtain its corresponding license by spending the required amount of LP (License Points) to permit its use. LP are earned in battle along with the experience points. Like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X, all characters may obtain all licenses on the board; however, each Quickening and Esper license may only be activated by a single character.

We still haven’t forgotten all the previous battle system, but the latest one uses a new battle system called active dimension battle (ADB). The player can control all the character’s movements and control as well, all the other character’s. Battle commands include Attack, Magicks & Technicks, Mist, Gambits, and Items. The game also features a system of chain bonuses where the party will gain the chance to earn improved items or bonus healing and status changes if the party kills a particular type of monster multiple times in a row.

Something you’ll need to keep in mind: in Final Fantasy XII you won’t receive any gil by defeating monsters. Now, after slaying the enemies you can take all the loot and sell it at a bazaar or a shop. Another way to win money and other items is by accepting by quests posted on any quest board of any pub around the world.

• THE SOUNDTRACK

Soundtrack continues with its nostalgic simphony, originally created by Nobuo Uematsu,f ollowing his departure from Square Enix back in 2004, only contributed to the theme song, “Kiss Me Good-bye” sung by Angela Aki.
It is Hitoshi Sakimoto who composed most of al the soundtrack and Masaharu Iwata and Hayato Matsuo created two and seven tracks respectively.

• THE END

Final Fantasy XII was developed and published by Square Enix exclusively for the Playstation 2  on October 31, 2006 (NA); February 3, 2007 (EU) and March 16, 2006 (Japan).

Yes, it's very cool

At lunch today, I made my way back home to eat some Bagel Bites and try and 5-star Rock Band’s Master Exploder on Hard.  I had considered last night to sell a couple of games to pick up the game and while looking at my damn near unplayed copies of both Gears of War games, I thought “fuck it.”  I managed to pick up the game for less than a D&D book thanks to Vintage Stock selling the game for only $50 and getting $25 from the sold games.

I played through the opening tonight, after I played through some Final Fantasy XII (I’ve got Basch now).  It’s pretty cool, but it’s a tiny bit slow.  It’s not exactly a bad thing, but it takes a bit of getting used to.  Also, at low levels, combat is pretty limited, at least for a warrior, but my friends tell me that changes pretty quickly.  It is pretty fun though.  It’s hard not to feel like a badass when, as a barely trained noble scion, I tore through a whole fucking army with nothing but my mom and a dog.

The game also has an epic feel.  It’s not as grandiose as Oblivion, but it has its own grim charm.  Because of that grimness, it was pretty easy to choose my character: a noble knight in shining armor similar to Basch fon Ronsenberg from XII.  It was a toss up between that and a pragmatic mage.  Since I was playing FFXII, I decided I wanted more heroic knights in my game.  That, and I just played a character like that in Fallout and my Shadowrun character is also going to be like that.  So, you know, a bit of variety.  I think I’ll play a vile necromancer in my next game, just to get some real variety in my gaming.

Anyway, that’s it for tonight.  I’m tired and it’s been a trying week.  Hopefully I’ll have things straightened out soon, and I’ll be back to writing long, drawn out posts for everyone.

As I said yesterday, I’m replaying Final Fantasy XII, which is probably my favorite Final Fantasy game.  I had to make a tough decision between it, and Final Fantasy VI, but XII’s awesome setting won out for me.  Still, playing the game again, it reminds me why it took me a year and a half to beat it the first time and why I didn’t play it again for so long, despite how much I loved it.

First of all, like I said, the setting is just plain awesome.  It’s everything I ever wanted in a fantasy setting.  Part steampunk, part dungeon punk, part science fiction all wrapped up in a delightfully anachronistic package.  It’s awe inspiring to watch a giant airship float majestically through the sky over a beautiful metropolis.  I’m also a fan of the political intrigue the game, which leads to a lot of moral ambiguity, which is always a good thing.

Continuing from the setting, the art direction is gorgeous.  I have a copy of the art books, since I bought the Collector’s Edition strategy guide, and I brought it to my D&D game on Saturday to give the players a sense of how I saw Arcia.  Almost everyone, who hadn’t ogled the book already, was impressed at how awesome everything was.  People even used the weapon art for to describe how their equipment worked.

The characters are also complex and interesting.  No one is truly good or evil (except for Basch, Vaan and Penelo.  They’re all truly good.  Oh yeah, Noah is a complete dick), which is kind of a change of pace, at least for Final Fantasy.  Sure, Kefka is an awesome, Ax Crazy son of a bitch, but Vayne is a bit more realistic and makes a very compelling villain.  Thanks to the game having complex characters, it makes the story a lot more compelling.

Also, the combat system is pretty cool.  It’s a nice take on the Active Time Battle system, plus it eliminates random encounters.  Combat is also simple and intuitive.

However, the game is fucking tedious.  I mean really fucking tedious.  You never have enough money, because you only get gil from selling loot, and monsters don’t always drop loot.  Power leveling is practically required to get through the game, and that’s annoying as hell.

Because I have to spend so much time grinding, it has a tendency to break the flow of the game for me.  The story itself is pretty well paced, but because I have this tendency to take huge breaks from the game, the pacing is kind of broken for me, which bothers me a lot.

Also, while the concept behind the License Board system is pretty cool, I never really have enough License Points to get anything, even after hours of grinding for LP.  My first time through, I had to get the special bracelet that doubles LP just to make sure I had enough LP to get all of the Augments, all of which are completely necessary.

Anyway, like I said yesterday, it’s a great game, but it still needs a bit of work.  It’s an Eastern RPG take on the Western RPG, and that causes some problems, but it’s still got a beautiful setting and lots of good characters.  Sure, there are some gameplay problems, but since JRPGs are basically interactive storybooks, this is a pretty good one.

I got home late tonight and I’ve had insomnia, so in between listening to the Smashing Pumpkins and surfing TV Tropes while discussing the merits of a good villain with my brother, I’ve been watching episodes of Batman: the Animated Series that I never got a chance to see.  I watched “Mad Love,” which explored Harley and Joker’s incredibly abusive relationship and “Legends of the Dark Knight,” which is about a bunch of kids who talk about what they think Batman is like.

I’ve had a pretty rough couple of days, so it’s been pretty good to wax nostalgic a little bit before I head on to bed.  I’m surprised at how well these episodes have aged, as old as they are.  If anything, I think I’d appreciate the series more as an adult that I ever would have as a child.  “Mad Love” was definitely the better of the two relationships, as it explored the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn in a very adult and responsible manner, which is good, since the Joker’s abusive nature is generally played for laughs (or sometimes played hilariously dark).

It was heartbreaking to see Harley go back to the Joker in the end, especially since he knocked her clear out of a fucking building.  I was a little surprised when they cut away when Joker backhanded Harley across the face, but it made the implication of what he did that much worse.  It was sickening to see Harley, lying broken in the alley below, gasp out “It was my fault…I didn’t get it” before she slumps into unconsciousness.  Based on the fall, and the fact her entire body goes limp, for all we know, she’s fucking dead and all she can say is “It was my fault.”  Odin’s beard that’s dark shit.

Normally, I don’t go in for “reliving the past” or looking back or whatever.  I figure life is only going to get better and I’m going to experience all sorts of cool stuff as I go through my own fucked up journey, but I’ve got to admit, it does feel good to revisit something from childhood after a day like I’ve had today.  Even though I’ve got a pretty optimistic outlook about things, even at their darkest, I can fall prone to some kind of dehumanization, and that was in spades today.  Coming back and watching Batman and how it maturely explored dark and adult themes made me feel alive.  It wasn’t so much that I was returning to a better place, but the happy memories were able to restore me to my own sense of self.  It returned a piece of me that I had lost sometime between breakfast this morning and agonizing over something that really wasn’t that important in the end.

So, enough waxing poetic, what about the geeky stuff?  Well, since I can’t afford to pick up Dragon Age, I’m replaying Final Fantasy XII, which I mentioned last week.  Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten a chance to play since my unsuccessful attempt at defeating Gilgamesh’s second fight in my first game (which came after I couldn’t succeed at powerleveling Vaan in my current game), but I’m glad to say the game is just as good as I remember.  No, it’s better than I remember.  The characters are cool, the setting is beautiful and the game is a lot more fun to play than I remember.  It’s just so fucking tedious.  Oh well, it’s a good game, just needed a bit more polish I think.  It’s too late and I’m too tired to give my full report on this game, so just wait until tomorrow.  Unless I decided to go off on the few comics I’ll be able to scrounge up at the comic book store.

Well, I restarted Final Fantasy XII sometime last weekend, I think on Friday, to give Kate some insight into my inspiration for the setting.  I think she was impressed.  She kept commenting on how Dalmasca’s ships were heavily inspired by the ships on Naboo.  I always thought that was the one flaw of the game (at least the Archades warships are so much cooler).

I plan on playing through a little faster this time, and not making stupid stops to play other games (oh, shit, maybe not.  Assassin’s Creed II comes out in a couple of weeks).  I’m going to make a concerted effort to make sure I get through this game in less than a year.  So, in about 20 months when I finish the game, everyone can make fun of me.

I’ll keep a running update of what I’ve done at least once a week, provided I find time to play.  If I don’t play that week, I’ll let everyone know.  Currently, I’ve done the first hunt, the one Vaan is required to do.  Also, the voice acting isn’t as bad as my buddy Scott said it is.  The quality of the audio files the voices are in though are shit.

In a more personal note, I am considering going back to school to get another degree.  I don’t know what yet.  I have three options: Biology, which I was always good at, a Masters in journalism, and a teaching certificate (if I get the Bio degree, I’ll probably become a teacher).  Over the next month, I’m going to be looking at some of the programs available and considering my options.  It’s going to be cool.

Also, I found this and thought it was funny:

No Japão, será lançada uma bebida energética (POTION), com a imagem dos personagens para comemorar o lançamento do jogo “Final fantasy XII”. O produto será lançado em dezembro, no mesmo mês em que o game será lançado.

Antes de mais nada, é um jogo para fãs. Você não é fã mas gosta de jogos de estratégia? E de jogos de luta? Então vai curtir Dissidia: Final Fantasy. O jogo trás todos os 12 personagens principais e seus respectivos inimigos em um mega crossover para aqueles que acompanham a franquia (porque diferente do que muitos ainda pensam, os 12 Final Fantasy lançados até hoje não tem ligação. Cada edição do jogo é uma história fechada). A lista de personagens é a seguinte:

Final Fantasy I: Warrior of Light / Garland
Final Fantasy II: Firion / The Emperor
Final Fantasy III: Onion Knight / Cloud of Darkness
Final Fantasy IV: Cecil Harvey / Golbez
Final Fantasy V: Bartz Klauzer / Exdeath
Final Fantasy VI: Terra Branford / Kefka Palazzo
Final Fantasy VII: Cloud Strife / Sephiroth
Final Fantasy VIII: Squall Leonheart / Ultimecia
Final Fantasy IX: Zidane Tribal / Kuja
Final Fantasy X: Tidus / Jecht
Final Fantasy XI: Shantoto
Final Fantasy XII:  Garbranth
Dissidia: Final Fantasy: Cosmos
Dissidia: Final Fantasy: Chaos

A lista é grande e você pode jogar com quase todos eles. Para quem acompanha a franquia é no mínimo interessante controlar o Tidus numa luta contra Sephiroth, ou controlar Golbez em uma luta contra Squall. Curto muito crossovers (e mashups) e alguns fanfics  que pipocam pela internet com diversos personagens de jogos e histórias diferentes se encontrando. Então sim, Dissidia: Final Fantasy agrada e muito esse público. Porém com uma história muito fraca. A princípio você fica empolgado para finalizar com cada um dos doze heróis porque as histórias de cada um completam a grande história do jogo, o porque de eles terem sido retirados de suas dimensões pela deusa Cosmos que está em uma luta há eras contra Chaos, que quer lançar os mundos no caos (RÁ!). Depois que você termina o primeiro arco da história tudo fica igual, sem muita emoção, infelizmente. É também lamentável que tenham usado o mais básico dos traços de personalidade de cada personagem, o que dá a impressão de terem escrito o plot do jogo de qualquer jeito e os motivos deles para lutar e ajudar a deusa. Exemplos? A dúvida de Cloud sobre viver e ser a sombra de Sephiroth, Squall e sua solidão, Tidus e sua alegria irritante, e por aí vai. Uma pena pois quando ouvimos o nome Final Fantasy imaginamos aventuras épicas, profundas e envolventes. Infelizmente não é a realidade de Dissidia. Mas ok, né, é um jogo de luta, e nisso Dissidia se dá super bem.

Ao iniciar a aventura com um dos personagens você será jogado em um tabuleiro com vários inimigos e itens. Ao se movimentar no tabuleiro você perde Destiny Points, que podem ser recuperados cumprindo certos requisitos, como ganhar do inimigo em 10 segundos. Para ganhar a luta você deve atacar os Brave Points de seu oponente, que vão pra você. A qualquer momento você pode fazer um ataque direto no HP do oponente, que irá causar dano equivalente ao seu número de Brave Points. Complicado? Nem um pouco. No jogo o entendimento é automático e combina bastante com a proposta da luta ser decidida antes de entrar no campo de batalha, com a estratégia. Se você nunca se deu bem com “bolão pra trás+soco forte” fique tranquilo, Todos os movimentos são programados para serem efetuados com um simples “esquerda+bolinha”, “cima+bolinha+quadrado”. Nada muito complexo, até porque executar movimentos complicados no PSP é horrível. Estratégia é a palavra chave desse jogo. O que ninguém pode reclamar é dos itens disponíveis para se montar uma estratégia infalível. Existe uma infinidade de armas e escudos com outra infinidade de acessórios com diversas propriedades para você se dar bem contra seus inimigos, além de uma lista enorme de summons que te oferecem vantagens e alguns que brincam com a sua sorte na batalha. E você vai precisar disso para se dar bem nos outros modos de jogo que Dissidia: Final Fantasy te oferece.

Não pense que matou-chefão-cabô-jogo. Quando você der cabo de qualquer chefe, você receberá PPs, que são os pontos para você gastar na comprando de itens que foram liberados na PP Store, que vão desde roupas secundárias para seus heróis, liberar os inimigos como personagens jogáveis, comprar roupas secundárias para os inimigos, novos campos de batalha, novos modos de jogo e mais um monte de coisa. Sobre os modos de jogo um ponto negativo não haver um modo on line. Mesmo havendo a possibilidade de lutar contra seus amigos usando o ad hoc, e mesmo depois da luta você pode lutar contra os “fantasmas” dos personagens utilizados por eles, eu queria um modo de jogo on line. Tudo bem que ainda existem o modo Hard, o Arcade, o Duel Colosseum com mais quatro modos de jogo, os desafios para criar itens no campo de batalha além do desafio de conseguir os itens no próprio “tabuleiro” do jogo através dos Destiny Points. É, pode parecer que estou reclamando de barriga cheia, mas não, eu queria um modo on line =(

E o que falar dos gráficos desse jogo? Nunca estive tão feliz com a capacidade gráfica do meu PSP! Os campos de batalha são enormes e poucas (mas elas existem) vezes a câmera se perde na frenética atuação de golpes. E como os personagens se movimentam belamente nesse jogo! Não é de estranhar que exista a possibilidade de salvar o vídeo da batalha e editá-lo ao seu gosto para assistir depois ou no PSP ou no PC.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy é um jogo para fãs? Sim, mas você que gosta de jogos de estratégia também vai se divertir por meses com ele. Veja o trailer do jogo e divirta-se!

Clique na imagem para melhor visualização.

Min dator är trasig. Det är därför det inte blivit mycket bloggande av. Jag lovade dock någon att skriva något någon dag. Så jag får ta min telefon till hjälp.

Resten av malmöresan gick bra. Det var skratt och fest. Så fick jag åka en sväng förbi Danis hembyggd och träffa hans familj. Det är alltid spännande att få en inblick i folks bakgrund.

Sen kom jag hem till Stockholm. Allt flyter på i en maklig takt. Jag har dragit ner på skoltempot. Det känns lite som att hösten tynger. Jag har svårt att knyta skorna och ta mig för. Disken blir lätt stående och skägget får växa lite för villt. Ni vet hur det är. Dagarna blir lite kortare.

Så jag rustar mig igen. Pansarhud och leenden är det perfekta. “Ingen slipper här in!” mässar jag i parodi på ‘bro bro och breja’. Jag skulle ha en käraste att avslöja namnet på. Då kanske jag skulle släppas in?

Final Fantasy XII går bra. Långsamt så klart. Jag är förtjust i världen och planerar ett hemligt nördprojekt med utgång från den. Yäh. Nörderier.

Jag ska tillbaka till min tunnelbaneresa.

sekali lagi cheat code yang dishare ini untuk code gameshark… ^^

All Accessory
E005FFFE 0056BADC
40553CF4 00180001
11541155 00020002
105548C4 00000030
4054EAD0 00180001
00630063 00000000

All Weapons (press Select):
E006FFFE 0056BADC
105548BC 000000A8
4054E82A 00540001
00630063 00000000
40553A4C 00540001
10021001 00020002
1054E978 00000063

All Heavy Body Armor (press Select)
E004FFFE 0056BADC
40553BDC 00090001
11431142 00020002
4054EAAC 00090001
00630063 00000000

Have Claymore in slot 1
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A4C 00001012
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E84C 00000063

Have Defender in slot 2
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A4E 00001013
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E84E 00000063

Have Save the Queen in slot 3
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A50 00001014
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E850 00000063

Have Ragnarok in slot 4
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A52 00001015
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E852 00000063

Have Ultima Blade in slot 5
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A54 00001016
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E854 00000063

Have Excalibur in slot 6
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A56 00001017
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E856 00000063

Have Tournesol in slot 7
D056BADC 0000FFFE
10553A58 00001018
D056BADC 0000FFFE
1054E858 00000063

happy cheater ^^

Por: André Breder Rodrigues

E esta semana o tema aqui no blog é mesmo Final Fantasy XII! Abaixo confira um cosplay super bem feito do Juiz Gabranth:

Esta armadura deve ter custado uma nota preta… semana que vem tem mais cosplay por aqui!

Por: André Breder Rodrigues

Japonês (com todo o respeito) é um povo doido mesmo… por RPGs! Em Março de 2006 a Square Enix chegou a lançar uma bebida tida como refrigerante ( um composto de ervas gaseificado) denominada “Potion”. Até mesmo um comercial de TV, bem tosco e engraçado, foi lançado para divulgar este produto… saque só como ficou a bagaça:

Por: André Breder Rodrigues

Este vídeo é para aqueles que jogaram o fantástico RPG Final Fantasy XII (que como já relatei aqui no blog, estou atualmente jogando-o pela terceira vez) e passaram por esta cômica situação no game:

Créditos para os malucos do Mega64, que sempre mostram competência em suas vídeo paródias de games famosos.

Por: André Breder Rodrigues

Atualmente eu ando meio indeciso quanto a qual game me dedicar. Após jogar umas nove horas de Rogue Galaxy, que é um ótimo RPG, acabei passando a jogar Grandia III, que ao contrário de Rogue Galaxy eu ainda não terminei nenhuma vez. Pois bem, justo quando estou já no segundo DVD de Grandia III, e com quase 40 horas de jogo, eis que sinto uma “atração” quase irresistível de jogar, pela terceira vez, o clássico Final Fantasy XII. E não deu outra: estou com quase 5 horas de jogo nele, e não consigo mais parar! Vou tentar dividir meu curto tempo livre entre estes três belos RPGs… mas é muito provável que acabe me dedicando mais ao Final Fantasy XII, que é, dentre os três, o mais “gostoso” de se jogar. Vamos ver qual deles eu termino primeiro…