Level Up! Seize the Experience!

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!

It was hard to believe any gaming news yesterday with it being April Fool’s, but I found confirmation today that the news stories I read about Tales are true. Huzzah!

Tales of Vesperia is indeed coming to the PlayStation 3. It’s going to have an additional character, but no news on whether the story will also be altered or added to. I haven’t bought Vesperia yet because I still haven’t played Tales of Symphonia for the Wii. (I’m still remaining true to my New Year’s resolutions: I can’t buy a game from a franchise until I complete a game.)  But I had played a demo of it, so it was on my to-buy list. Now I think I’m going to wait for it to come out for the PS3. The only thing I’ve done with the PS3 is play DVDs and watch my husband play Killzone 2.

I know that this announcement doesn’t help the PS3 and its lack of exclusive RPGs, but it’s something for now.

But there is other Tales news.

A new Tales game, Tales of Grace, will be hitting the Wii later this year too. Way to go Nintendo! That’s two RPGs for the Wii this year. We’re making improvements! I’m even more eager to finish Lost Odyssey so I can start Tales of Symphonia. I thought this year would be filled with Final Fantasy games, but it looks like Tales may fill my gaming calendar as well.

The title was pulled directly out of Nintendo Power’s RPG Special from their February, 2009 issue, and I’m very, very curious to see if this game really will pull the Wii out of its RPG funk. Is it going to be a worthwhile RPG or is it just an RPG to slap into the Wii library to prove that the Wii has a RPG library?

Well, Arc does have a good start. The developers have swayed the game designer, CG director, scenario writer, and battle programmer of Tales of Symphonia to work on the Arc project. As a result, the game has the bright colors usually seen in a Tales game and players can see enemies running about, but NinPow assures us that this is where the similarities end. Arc is turn-based with a bit of strategy thrown in. The party has a set number of ability points to use each turn, and players can distribute them however they wish. Don’t want your magic casters to expend MP? So have your fighters attack multiple times instead. Do you only like one character’s attacks? Then make him a solo artist. (Although, players will earn more bonuses by having the party cooperate and fight as a team.) How your party attacks is entirely up to you.

The story reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy VII, in that the partymembers are out to overthrow an Empire (Shin-ra) that is mining power from deities held captive (mako energy).  Sounds like an interesting mesh of politics and the environment. It worked for FF7 and Lost Odyssey, so why not?

The storyline similarities don’t bother me, and they shouldn’t bother any other RPG player. Aren’t most JRPG storylines similar in some fashion? I think the most unique JRPG story I have ever played is The World Ends with You, and that game didn’t really hold to most of the JRPG traditions. I just really hope that the game holds up to the hype, because the more I read about it, the more excited I get about its impending arrival.

I’m not getting excited yet about the Wii getting out of its RPG funk, because I don’t want to be disappointed if it falls flat. When I hear of more titles coming, THEN I’ll get excited.

According to January’s issue of Nintendo Power, it doesn’t look to be a great year for the role-playing genre for the Wii. Not that this is really any surprise. If you do a RPG search on Nintendo’s own website, only twelve games appear, despite the fact that the console has been around for twelve years. And of these games, I think only two or three would even interest the rpg-fanatic. I think that Nintendo really wants to cater to this genre, but the lack of third party development hinders them a bit. However, that’s a blog for a different day.

Here is what the Wii will offer for 2009, so far.

Arc Rise Fantasia - The writers for Tales of Symphonia are putting together another RPG outside of the Tales franchise. NinPow didn’t have much to say about it, other than it shows “promise,” but the screenshots are pretty enough. It’s currently slated for a spring release.

Rune Factory Frontier - Rune Factory makes its way to the Wii with its interesting combination of RPG gameplay and Harvest Moon farming. You start out as a humble farmer, but if you need a break from your agricultural duties, there are always monsters to slay. But why slay them if you can capture them? I know I’ve always wanted a pet dragon of my very own.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - Slap on the name “Final Fantasy,” and you have a sure seller. This one is another MMORPG for the Crystal Chronicles series.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - All NinPow will say about it is that players can play as one of two characters and see the story from two completely different perspectives. The graphics are beautiful too, similar to Eternal Sonata or Tales of Symphonia, but they don’t hold up to any RPGs on other consoles, or even Twilight Princess. I guess that this style of graphics are all RPG fans can expect from the Wii.

So what else is on the horizon for the Wii? A few platformers, a TMNT fighting game, another Wii Sports game, a few ports, and a few first-person shooters. If you want a good RPG from Nintendo in 2009, you’re best bet is on the DS.