Level Up! Seize the Experience!

I, unfortunately, am not going to be able to continue my love of RPGs here. I’ve been slammed with a couple of huge freelance writing projects, and between those and caring for my one year old, I’m not going to be able to give my blogs on Today.com the time they deserve.

I’ve had a lot of fun, and I hope I can find time in the future to pick up where I left off.

Thanks for the support!

A friend of mine has abandoned the original GBA Chain of Memories for the fancy-shmancy 3D version on the PlayStation 2. While I plan to hold over her head that she’s not a true Kingdom Hearts fan for doing so — I’m fully aware of how weak that is — I have to admit that she’s stirred up the Kingdom Hearts feeling in me to play my copy of the PS2 Chain of Memories.

Arrrgh and I shouldn’t! I still have Final Fantasy VII to finish as well as um, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII. I really should play games that I haven’t already beaten, even though I technically haven’t beaten this KH game.

I’m going to have to force myself to wait and play this game after I finish 358/2 Days when I get that in August. Unless I beat all three FF games before then, which I’m fairly certain won’t happen.

Must stick to plan, must stick to plan…

My June issue of Nintendo Power announced yet another RPG coming for the DS, Nostalgia. Apparently the game was designed with the spirit of the older games constantly downloaded on the Wii’s Virtual Console in mind. The story is an alternate historical universe set in the 19th century. The game takes you through real regions such as London and Egypt, but it still has the fantasy element of magic that most RPG gamers (like me) crave.

The article starts off saying that the game is reminiscent of Indiana Jones, and as I read through the game synopsis and elements, I could not agree more. The game starts off with an adventurer swooping in and rescuing a damsel in distress, hauls her to his airship, but the airship crashes and the adventurer winds up missing. It’s up to his son and the rescued damsel to find out what happened to him. Along the way, they’ll use airships, magic, and discover artifacts and lost worlds. There is even a screenshot of a character running from a giant, rolling boulder.

A fantasy-based Indy game? SIGN ME UP!

Scheduled release is currently set for September of this year. I hope I can speedily finish Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days so I can quickly get my hands on this potential gem.

Well, according to a friend armed with sales quotes, the Pokemon franchise has blasted every other RPG franchise out of the water. He says that the franchise has sold over 186 million video games, while Final Fantasy has only sold 89 million. I’ll admit that the numbers are pretty convincing, but I’m still skeptical. I’ll admit it’s because I don’t want to believe that a game as annoying, boring, and repetitive as Pokemon could be the most popular role-playing video game.

My first question is the number of games released for Pokemon versus any other franchise. If memory serves me correctly, I believe that many Pokemon games have been re-released on additional consoles. I also remember at one time two to four Pokemon games were released at the same time, each entailing the same damn game but each having different sets of Pokemon to collect. I would think that many fans would buy each copy just to try to collect the various types of Pokemon.

One could argue that they release this many Pokemon games because of the popularity, but I wonder if it’s really because of the popularity or because they know that fans will buy each and every game.

My next question is the cult following, and I’m going to admit first-hand that I have limited knowledge and experience with this. I have attended several gaming, comic, and anime conventions over the years, and I have seen maybe one or two Pokemon cosplayers. Don’t try to tell me that the costumes for the Pokemon themselves are difficult, because I’ve seen some damn intricate costumes. One group at an anime convention dressed up as the various demons from Spirited Away. No more complicated than a handful of Pokemon.

Also, when I talk to other gamers about RPGs, Pokemon NEVER comes up. The talk usually centers around Final Fantasy games and their complex storylines and then goes to Fable, Mass Effect, a Tales game, and then random games without a running franchise. Maybe none of these gamers want to admit that they play Pokemon?

Or maybe more than half of the Pokemon demographic are children, and as every generation of children passes, a new generation comes in and sweeps up the Pokemon mania. If the cult following is really primarily with children, then I’m going to say that Pokemon is not the most popular RPG overall. It’s the most popular children’s game, period.

If anyone offers anything else to argue for the other side, PLEASE DO! I’m just trying to understand why and how Pokemon could really be the most popular RPG franchise. And if it really is, then I’ll need to write about how it’s the most overrated. Hee hee hee.

Now that I have a few more hours under my belt, I can safely say that I like my first experience with the Tales franchise. The whole business of recruiting monster partymembers like Pokemon is still a bit of a mystery to me, but I get just as happy when it happens. I don’t care if it is all by accident. I’m having a blast.I also like the methods the game uses to help you level up. There are stations of the Katz Guild all over the world, and if you check in you can opt for additional quests. I have no idea what treasures the quests offer, but my eyes are spinning with additional levels like a cartoon character’s would for dollar signs. If this saves me the trouble of doing nothing but bare bones leveling for a few hours, it will be more than worth it.

I’m still a little disappointed with the motion controls. I haven’t learned enough Artes to attempt to elicit the use of the motion-controlled shortcuts, but the motion controls have been implemented in other, weak ways. It’s almost as if the developers realized halfway through production that they were making this game for the Wii so we better damn well put in some motion controls. As of now, this game could have been produced just as well on the PlayStation 2.

But it’s still early, so they can always change my mind…

Graphics-wise, going from a graphics giant like Lost Odyssey to Dawn of the New World has been a bit painful on the eyes. The graphics on the Wii RPG are far brighter, but definitely more on the anime side than anything else.

So while that is a downside to the game, the combat style is such a breath of fresh air. Granted, it’s a new frustrating breath of fresh air, because I have to switch the gears in my brain. I was so used to taking my time in making decisions and planning my strategy that I’ve fallen out of the habit of making quick decisions. That’s a bit of a problem when the combat happens in real time. I haven’t died alot..yet…but I have had to heal myself far more than I should. I went through the same issue when I started Crisis Core, so I know I’ll get over this one just as quickly.

One reason why I stopped playing Final Fantasy VII is because I couldn’t handle playing two turn-based games at once. The gameplay was too slow for me and it was driving me insane. So now that I’m playing Dawn of the New World that features real-time combat, I will be picking up Cloud’s buster sword once again.  But not too soon. I want to swim in this action for a little while before slowing things back down again.

I’ve been looking forward to trying out Symphonia for awhile, because I’ve been curious how a RPG will play on the Wii, and now it’s very obvious. It plays much like any RPG on any other console, except that there are a few motion-sensing elements. I’m a little disappointed by it. However, it looks like when I learn some more Artes that I’ll be able to incorporate the motion-sensing a little more as short-cuts for individual Artes. They have it set so players can choose either motion-sensing or nonmotion-sensing controls, but SERIOUSLY, you’re on the freaking Wii so if you don’t want motion controls, go pick up Tales of Vesperia or play the original Symphonia again.

My feet are still wet, so I’m not ready to discuss initial impressions just yet. But so far, I’m liking the gameplay and the controls. The dialogue is humorous, but the names are really, really lame. But if the names are all I have to complain about, I should be golden. Here’s hoping!

On Thursday, I swore I would get this game finished by Sunday and dammit, I actually kept my word this time.

I attempted to complete all of the sidequests, I really did. However, I couldn’t bring myself to finish the last one, the Temple of Enlightenment. After three regular enemy fights in a row where I battled nine enemies with HP levels between 7200 and 22000 and barely survived each one, I turned to my husband and said that was it. The area was not any fun, this type of fighting isn’t any fun, and I don’t see the point in playing otherwise. Getting out of the Temple was just as hard, but I’m so very glad that I at least attempted it. All of my immortals learned so many skills and we leveled up so incredibly much. It made the final bosses a complete breeze. I can’t imagine how much easier it would have been if I had actually completed the Temple of Englightenment. I probably could have just sneezed on the final boss and won.

Which is kind of how I felt when I defeated the final boss in Crisis Core, and I only completed 60% of the missions. If I had finished all of them, could I have just blown the final boss a kiss?

But I digress.

So what’s next for me? Well for starters, you won’t hear anything else about this game from me. Next on my list to play is Tales of Symphonia for the Wii. I’m very interested in seeing how a RPG plays on the Wii.

So until then huzzah and good night!