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We don't need another hero

By Tania on November 26th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PS3,

The Tales series is a notorious victim of patchy videogame export. I’m not sure why yet, as I’ve only played 2 of them so far, but my guess would be that 1) it’s not Final Fantasy, and therefore, export tends to just forget about it, 2) it’s a bit too anime-y for the general public. I can’t argue with that last one: both Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia suffer from a few annoying anime clichés and are full of large-eyed androgynous characters. But Final Fantasy, the big favourite of the RPG world, isn’t totally exempt from those either, and yet, it’s the Tales series that usually gets the blame. Which is a shame, because it also has undeniable qualities.

Symphonia was a big hit, both in the US and Europe, and I was hoping for a similar experience when I bought Tales of Vesperia. “Similar” is right, as Symphonia veterans will definitely get a ladleful of déjà-vu: Estelle, the heroine, is almost a carbon copy of Colette (even down to the French names), Karol is extremely reminiscent of Genis, Judith is a calmer version of Sheena, and Raven, a kinder Zelos. Many of the sidequests return (Fell Arms, waitressing, quiz, hot springs), you still get titles and costumes for your characters, and some plot points are blatantly reused. But while this may not bode very well for the developers’ inventiveness, and while Symphonia still comes out on top by comparison—if only because it came first, and because it featured Kratos—, Vesperia is, nevertheless, lots of fun.

The most positive aspects of the game are the battle system and (some of) the characterization. The former is the usual Tales fare: a party of 4, of which you control one, the others being all up for grabs in multiplayer mode; otherwise, the AI takes care of them, and does a pretty good job of it too (except for Estelle…). You can give the AI suggestions with various Strategy settings, telling it to prioritize attack, healing, etc. Battles take place on a circular 3D field, where you can move freely. Each character has their own weapon type, as well as *oodles* of special attacks, which are activated by controller shortcuts (A + a direction on the left stick for the controlled character’s moves, for example), and which they learn either by levelling up, from storyline events, or by using previously learned attacks a certain number of times. Each attack is associated with a colour: use that colour enough times, and you’ll be given a chance to perform a Fatal Strike, which will instantly kill any non-boss enemy, and give you bonuses at the end of the fight. Each fight is graded according to your performance, and the accumulated points can then be used at the end of the game to purchase stuff for subsequent replays. Characters also learn various skills from their equipment (think FFIX). All in all, everything related to battle is a real pleasure: fluid, customizable, fast-paced and fun.


As for the characters, Yuri is a genuine breath of fresh air among video game heroes. His appearance already gives you a hint as to what to expect: he’s dressed entirely in black. And he doesn’t take crap from anyone. Cynical, confident and level-headed, with no trace of insecurity, he abhors cheesiness of any sort and enjoys his smartass comments, which he gets abundant occasions to dispense. He also has his own idea of right and wrong, and you might be a tad shocked when you see this in action; I know I was. The developers have undoubtedly made a bold choice with him, and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. Oh, and his voice actor is a very good fit.


The other big highlight is Raven. I thoroughly enjoy my comic relief, when it’s well-handled, and he definitely delivers in spades. He’s no Jansen (of Lost Odyssey fame; the closest available comparison and the best comic relief I’ve ever seen in a video game), but dammit, does he try. Among his most noteworthy achievements is his take on the classic “our weapons are…” end-of-battle quote, which Symphonia players will most likely remember. Trust me, it’s hilarious; if you’re not planning to play the game, at least take a look here. And if the humour wasn’t enough, Raven also gets the best backstory of the lot, hands down. His only downside would be the learning curve required to effectively use him in battle, if you’re ever inclined to control him yourself, as his fighting style is decidedly odd. This is a trait he shares with Judith, who, while nowhere near his level of awesomeness, or Yuri’s, is my third favourite among the cast, and is part of the rare breed of sensible, intelligent, easygoing female video game characters.

Now on to the less positive points. First of all, a peeve which is related to the Xbox 360 as a whole: the achievements. I understand that you’re in no way required to unlock them all, but for completionists like me, it can be very frustrating. And the achievements for Vesperia require at least 2 playthroughs. I like the game, but there’s still something annoying in the fact that you’re basically forced to replay it.

Secondly, the storyline is rather uninspiring, stock RPG fare: blah-blah...sacrificial female character...blah-blah...ancient menace that tries to destroy the world...blah-blah...humans are doing bad things to the planet. In its early stages, it also suffers from the characters’ indecisiveness: they keep trying to go their own ways, only to reunite, often instants later. They then decide on a goal, and proceed to do scores of completely unrelated things before they remember what they were supposed to be doing in the first place. Fortunately, this improves by the end of the game.

Thirdly, we have the rest of the cast. I frequently found myself wanting to smash Rita’s and Estelle’s heads together. Rita is a scolding hag, even though she’s only 15: she’s unbearably arrogant, her voice is annoying, and she gets angry on a regular basis, which is expressed by a healthy dose of yelling and smacking Karol around. I don’t like children in video games, but that kinda made me feel sorry for the poor kid as the story wore on. As for Estelle, it’s the same deal as with Colette: ENOUGH with the sickeningly naïve goody-two-shoes with whiny voices who constantly need rescuing, protecting and reassuring, I beg you!! Other than that, well, Repede’s a dog. A cool dog who fights with a katana, but still a dog.

And last, but not least, the TERRIBLE marketing strategy displayed by Namco-Bandai (or Bamco). The game originally came out for Xbox 360…only to get a port to PS3, which apparently includes not only 2 more playable characters, but also significant additions to both the storyline and the sidequests. Heck, from what I’ve seen, it’s almost a completely new game. And not only was this announced very shortly after the game was released, but the PS3 port is apparently due to make its way out of Japan as well. I’m not particularly interested in the new characters, but a more fleshed out storyline could’ve been nice. Bad move there, Bamco, bad move.

All in all, though, I’m pretty happy with Vesperia. Despite what may be wrong with it (and that includes bland music), it’s entertaining enough to warrant seeing it through to the end, and has replay value. If you’re looking for a good RPG for your Xbox 360, and have either already played Lost Odyssey, or aren’t a fan of turn-based combat, look no further.

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Will Kill, Can't Swim

By Tania on October 25th, 2009 under X360, PS3, PC, Action/Adventure,

I’ve always been wary of action games, because I tend to think too much before acting, and was concerned that my reflexes wouldn’t be up to the task. However, as time went by, the “you won’t know until you try” credo grew on me, and I decided to expand my game collection with new genres. One of my friends pointed out that “you can’t own an Xbox 360 and not have played Assassin’s Creed”. Since the premise of the game already intrigued me, that finalized my decision.

The overall impression is a very favourable one. But I must say that both the storyline and characters left me with mixed feelings. Incarnating a skilled assassin during the Third Crusade plainly and simply rocks. Altair is undoubtedly one of the biggest highlights of the game. Maybe it’s just because I’m female—and therefore, you guessed it, find him scrumptiously shady—, but he really did the trick for me. The sleek moves, the sneakiness, the arrogance, the taciturnity, the beauty and symbolism of the name…heck, even the missing finger. There’s just one problem: why can’t a professional assassin swim? Seems a bit absurd to me…especially since I’m really not agile when it comes to hopping across poles and jetties, which resulted in my drowning poor Altair a countless number of times. But that’s just about his only drawback. However, since Altair isn’t the “real” hero of the game, that leaves us with Desmond, Altair’s descendent in modern times, as the main protagonist. And he has the charisma of a wet sock. Seriously, apart from the odd sarcastic quip, there isn’t a single interesting thing about him. And, yes, I know he’s supposed to look identical to Altair, but personality does go a long way, even for a fictional character, because Desmond feels like a complete doofus.

It’s pretty much the same issue with the storyline: the Medieval conspiracy works very well, and some of the assassinations are truly memorable. Garnier de Naplouse, the Hospitaller leader (second or third target, depending on the player’s choice), springs to mind: very convincingly unsettling, and the setting for his episode was well-nigh perfect. On top of all that, I like the sonorities of his name…My own weird tastes, I know. Moving right along, had they decided to make the Medieval part of the story stand on its own, I’m sure it would’ve worked just fine. The modern-day part just feels tacked on and uninteresting. Perhaps because it features Desmond. Perhaps because it’s simply innately boring.

Combat was my biggest dread in this game, for a good reason. The stealthy stuff, such as creeping up on an unsuspecting victim and swiftly sticking a knife in their back, came naturally enough. But open combat took some genuine work. I’m sure that it’s nothing too complicated for people who are used to this type of game, but I really had to give my reflexes a good shake to get used to the blocking and dodging. The beginning of the game had me spewing my guts quite a few times, which isn’t very impressive for a master assassin, as I’m sure you’ll concur. But it did progressively get better, I came to appreciate the various types of available weapons, and my swashbuckling skills were much more suited to Altair’s style by the end. Speaking of style, I must really commend the fluidity of the battle movements. When controlled correctly in open combat, Altair looks like he’s performing some sort of deadly dance…*drool*

The sandbox aspect of the game does its job well. It’s pretty fun to be able to clamber up just about anything (Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem was a definite highlight), break pots and dive into haystacks. Scaling minarets and belfries to get an overview of the area and then swallow-diving off them is particularly impressive, especially for someone who’s afraid of heights, like me…The leap from the cross of the cathedral of Acre, which is the highest building in the game, was probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced.

Other positive aspects include graphics and localization. The former are beautiful, luminous and lush (well, as lush as Medieval Palestine can be), and the latter impressed me quite a bit. Historical accuracy may have been doctored a bit—most of the assassination targets were real historical figures, but they weren’t quite as…colourful as in the game—, but the linguistics are masterful. Ubisoft is a Canadian company, so I guess it stands to reason that their French would be good, but it still felt weird to finally hear a proper French accent in an Anglo-Saxon game. Even random soldiers who spoke entirely in French (“Je vais t’étriper!”) were perfectly fluent. Same for the German, as far as I could tell. I can’t vouch for the Arabic, but it sounded genuine enough. The only thing that could’ve made it better would’ve been if Altair himself had an accent. But it’s just a minor nitpick.

However, there are more problems to mitigate the positive points a little. First of all, the beggar women who plague every city are the devil incarnate (“I’m poor and sick and hungry!”); if you don’t know what I mean, play the game, and you soon will. Secondly, a lot of people complain about the game’s repetitiveness, and while I found each assassination episode to be interesting enough to make up for the fact that you essentially had to do the same thing every time, I can understand how it can seem tedious. There are also quite a few glitches (think random NPCs in gravity-defying positions on rooftops), which give the game a bit of an unpolished feel. The music is adequate, but nothing more. And the ending is just bad. I understand that they wanted to tie it in with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed II, but it was probably a little excessive. It’s like the game didn’t end at all.

Nevertheless, in spite of these various issues, I’m still looking forward to the next installment in the series. Roaming across Renaissance Venice is going to be a blast. Even if it seems like Desmorond will be back, and that Ezio (not sure I like that name) looks a tad more gimmicky than Altair (experimental gun prototype? really? well, at least I hope he knows how to swim). But I ain’t gonna complain before I sample the goods.

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A grab bag of thoughts

By Arclayn on September 15th, 2009 under General, RPG, X360, PS3, Mac, PC, Online,

Cross Posted to Arclayn's Livejournal.

I have not posted in some time, and I am not inspired to discuss any one topic in length. So today, I offer a bunch of unrelated thoughts...

Recently, the Dungeons and Dragons official MMO was relaunched as a free to play game in North America. Those in Europe, who still have to purchase subscriptions, are not missing much. I sampled the game for a few hours and concluded it is quite terrible. Why is my elf swinging a rapier like a baton? Why doesn't the dungeon master actually say something other than what is already obvious? Oh I can go on and on about what's wrong with this game, but I'd rather not. Did the guys at Turbine get anything right? The writing is good, which is a rarity among free to play MMO games. The 3D modelling and textures are good too, when not animated (q.v. rapier/baton reference). Beyond that, not much else. The boys and girls at Turbine could take more than a few lessons from Bioware and Blizzard.

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The wine project is an attempt to create a work environment within Linux/Unix that can run Windows software, including DirectX video games! While wine is not perfect, it is improving over time. I recently learned that this project is (supposedly) now working well with Mac OS X Leopard (that's Mac OS v10.5 for the Mac-uninitiated).

The notes on WineHQ's wiki regarding Macs are quite ambiguous. It doesn't help that there isn't a distributed binary for Mac, which means you have to download the source code and build it yourself. That is certainly NOT a task for just anyone, even someone who is "computer saavy". Even IT specialists (like myself) cringe at this prospect. All is not lost, however. Macports does make the build, install, and management process a bit easier, but you still have to be comfortable with the Terminal bash shell. You also need to read the online documentation very carefully.

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I'm really looking forward to Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware is to Western style RPGs as Square-Enix is to Japanese style RPGs: Win and awesome! Last May, Bioware announced that they won't be using Securom with Dragon Age!  I guess Electronic Arts (Bioware's owner/publisher) did learn a thing or three about how to properly treat a paying customer!

Arclayn MoonSword

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Communism is the very definition of failure!

By Joshie on June 30th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PS3,

Like a goldfish looking through the glass at the cat patiently waiting to eat it when the owner isn't looking, I couldn't help but feel slightly afraid of Madam Panada, the shop keeper in Fallout 3: Point Lookout. Maybe this video will explain the nightmares I have about this woman better than any written word could.

Without a doubt this is my favorite expansion to Fallout 3 yet and if you don't wish to splash the cash on them all, I highly recommend picking this up over the rest. Not only does Point Lookout have it's own (short) narrative set of quests, but there are many side missions to explore, all set in a new open landscape that includes a run down amusement park and board walk, a vast swamp, Victorian mansions, military base and a highly suspicious light house. Unlike the previous, more linear downloadable content, Point Lookout feels and plays much closer to the original game, providing a whole new location to explore should you grow tired of the capital wastes. With many memorable characters, religious cults and treasures awaiting, Point Lookout is without question a must buy.

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Duffman gives the people what they want!

By Joshie on June 6th, 2009 under X360, PS3, Wii, PSP,

As the week comes to a close we shut the door on Electronic Three 2009 (or E3 as the kids like to call it). The last year and a recession (you mean the “economic downturn” right?) has certainly taken its toll on the industry, and while we returned to all the glamour, glitz and big breasted booth babes, the sour undertone of the show is a feeling that gamers didn’t vote with their wallets to support new IPs like Mirrors Edge and Dead Space. Instead this year’s announcements and reveals were a conga line of less risky sequels that tread well-known grounds.

I say this because I know we are all part of the problem. I thought the two Metal Gear games, two Halo games and three Mario games looked great and will almost certainly buy them all. That’s not to say I don’t wish for more innovation in gaming, but as long as sequels are well produced and provide something new, I’m more than happy to hand over my (cough) hard earned cash.

In my opinion Sony had their best E3 conferences in years, showing of some hard hitters like God of War 3, Uncharted 2, White Knight Chronicles, Heavy Rain and The Last Guardian. I was equally impressed by their large lineup of PSP titles such as Dissidia, echochrono, PixelJunk Monsters, Peace Walker, MotorStorm and Fat Princess, which along with the announcement that they would finally sort their shit out and release decent PSone games for download (Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid included!) has me hyped for PSP for the first time in years. While I’m certainly not going to buy their atrociously priced “PSP Go” for $250 (you can buy an Xbox for less than that), it did make me buy a larger memory stick from Amazon (those things are pretty cheap now ya know?) to enjoy the new digital era.

What has me less excited is everyone’s desire to jump on the motion control bandwagon, driving with no hands as they barrel down the street. Microsoft’s “Project Natal” may have blown away some, but except for “Mr Fables’” Milo which is almost certainly a pedophiles wet dream, most of what they showed was a lot of shiny marketing talk with no true real world application. You all laughed when Nintendo announced the WiiWheel a few years ago? Why does anyone think holding your hands and pretending to drive with an invisible wheel is going to be an improvement? Equally, everyone is going to find controlling the dashboard in classic Minority Report fashion entertaining for five seconds before they realize the controller is just far easier. I would even consider Sony’s disastrous tech demo presentation involving coloured wands and N64 animations a better proof of concept than Microsoft’s, as at least they showed us some real application for the control input which looked much closer to what people wanted the Wii to be when it was first announced.

The issue with both these projects however is with neither the concept nor the implementation; it’s convincing people to buy an add on that doesn’t come with the system. Microsoft will no doubt be pissing off everyone who brought a Vision camera in good faith, while Sony will have to sell people both an overpriced EyeToy and a Wiimote knockoff.

Fortunately its more than possible to ignore these announcements and dribble open mouthed at the spiffy graphics in Modern Warfare II, Crackdown II, Halo 3: ODST and Alan Wake. Yes, I’m the problem. But if the future is having to make small talk with my Xbox during the loading screens, then I’m more than happy to stay it.

I’m sure the irony of announcing a camera where YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER, and demoing a “virtual” skateboarding game was not lost on Tony Hawk who revealed his rather less-virtual skateboard controller just moments earlier either.

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Everybody's dead, Dave.

By Joshie on May 24th, 2009 under RPG, X360, PS3,

A little known fact about me is that I don’t complete many games. In fact, I can buy multiple copies of the same game and still not see those pearly white credits roll on by. It’s not that I couldn’t fathom how to open the boxes shrink-wrap and it’s certainly not for a lack of trying. The problem, as I see it, boils down to a fundamental issue of money vs. attention span. Back in the good old days I didn’t have a lot of this currency thing, so I replayed games. A lot. Hell, I’ve beaten Tombi for the PlayStation at least seven times and I don’t even consider that a particularly great game. Although now that I look back at it, its depiction of evil magic pigs trying to take over the world has an eerie sense of foreboding prophecy about it when you consider the current swine flu pandemic that will turn us all into pork scratchings before the year is over.

Getting back to the topic at hand, issues with my gaming habit started to arise back at college when people started giving me free money. Obviously this cash could, logically, only be spent on one thing, and it bloody well wasn’t going to be a haircut. It’s like giving a thousand pounds to a meth addict. Do you really think they are going to spend a “reasonable” amount of that cash on meth and save the rest for a rainy day? Fuck no. You clearly send word to the little old lady down the street who sells drugs out of her front garage that you’re coming down and you clean her place out. It’s the same with games, but without the questionable legality of buying products from an unlicensed retailer.

For this reason Fallout 3 may just be my game of the year for 2009. I’ve been playing Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic mega RPG on and off since Christmas day last year, which for those of you who failed first grade math class, is five months or one hundred and fifty days ago. During that time I’ve managed to clock a pretty reasonable forty five hours with the game and I’ve yet to be distracted enough by the next shiny thing to give up on it.

I’ve heard people remark that they couldn’t get into Fallout like they did Oblivion because of its dreary and depressing atmosphere, however this may just be why I keep going back to it. As wonderful as the mystical fantasy genre is, sometimes its good to take a step back from it and Fallout 3 is truly a rush of fresh air. From the very first time you step out of Vault 101 into the capital wasteland you are simply blown away by the sheer scale and detail of the world around you.

Sure it’s barren, it’s dead and you’re all alone, but that’s what makes it such a unique title. I’m not saying the games perfect by any means, but the sheer thrill of the adventure you have in this incredible world more than makes up for the little problems it has. Every corner of the wastes has its surprises and every quest has multiple ways to be approached. Just discussing the game with other players can completely take you by surprise, as everyone’s experience will be slightly unique to them, be it from the moral choices they made, to the order they did things or where they went first. I don’t claim to be a gaming connoisseur who has tried the best of everything, but I’m sure I can’t be wrong in saying there isn’t anything quite like this in any other modern generation game.

The game starts with quite a steep learning curve about an hour in where you must quickly get to grips with exactly what items you need to carry and what should be sold or left behind. If there is one thing this game has taught me, its when scavenging a nuclear wasteland, bring a bigger bag.

Also, a single shot in the face makes peoples heads explode. Did I mention this game is hilariously gory for no good reason?

What's so incredible about my time with Fallout 3 is that as I slowly ponder through the ninety plus hour game they provided, they keep making it longer. In the past five months Bethesda has released three downloadable packs which each ads a significant amount of new game play, weapons and skills to the game, the most recent of which even went to the lengths of rewriting the ending. With two more packs due, I can see myself still playing Fallout 3 for a long time to come.

Of course, that won’t stop me buying a third copy of Peggle for no good reason. I gotta spend that drug money on something…

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