Wild Arms (PS3)

Spagetti-RPG

More than a year ago I watched the Completionist let's play channel where they played this very game. It looked rather fun and since I had a craving for JRPGs I went ahead and got it. Finished it now and boy it was really good. It was probably a blessing since much that they played through I've already forgotten so it was fun to rediscover it although some twist you kinda can't forget. The special about this game is that it has a western setting and theme to it... which basically means that instead of a samurai game there is guns, since the spaghetti western already proved you could take Japanese samurai movies and set them in the west and they were as good (up to ones taste of course). Of course this is Japan so it isn't enough so you get Golems, which are basically mechs, demon cyborgs, space elves, guardian spirits, space stations and cities and human cyborgs. It's freaking amazing.

I AM IRON MAN!

The story is that the world of Filgaia is under siege by the race of demons, who are space travelling parasites, part machines. They are led by Mother who is the first and pretty much a Lavos who travel from planet to planet devouring it. But 1000 years ago they came to Filgaia where the Elw (space elves), humans and guardian spirits united their forces and defeated the demons and put Mother in stasis. Of course the battle took its toll so the Elw escaped to another dimension  while the technology level of humans went back from the space age one to a wild west setting while the guardian spirits put up mechanism to contain Mother which obviously, since this is an JRPG, starts to fail one Millenia later. The intro cutscene tells of the demons return and attack on castle Antarctica where they have found the cocoon prison of Mother in an excavation and only one person escapes the onslaught. Jump forward some years and you met your three main protagonist. Rudy, a boy who tries his best to help people, but since his abilities scares people he is always wandering aimlessly across the world. Then there is Cecilia, the princess of Adlehyde who is the chosen one of the guardians to be the protector of the Tear Drop, some sort of artefact. And last there is Jack, the swordsman treasure hunter with his talking mouse Hanpan... who quite clearly is the lone survivor of Antarctica. They all met excavating a golem named Lolitha and due to an attack of the demons that steals them away you set out on adventure to save the world.

Always bring a gun to a sword fight

During the course of the adventure you will fail to stop the resurrection of Mother, but since her only desire is to destroy the other demons allow you to finish her of since they want to make Filgaia their own home. In an confrontation with Zeikfried (the main demon lord after mother) he deciedes to chance it all by overloading a generator and creating a black hole that will swallow them all, but he believes he is strong enough so he uses a chain of magic silver to hold Rudy. As the chains won't break Rudy cuts his own arm of revealing that Rudy is really made of Living Metal, a machine created during the war as soldiers that went out of control to become killing machines. Of course Rudy is different since his time spent with his grandfather gave him a caring heart (although I've slaughtered monsters and demons left and right and hit bullies and so on). So you must go to the Elw dimension so that they can fix his arm. Unfourtunalty I remember that so the twist didn't have the same impact when I played through it. Also, Zeikfried ended up where Mothers weekend body was left and she devoured him overtaking his mind and continue her search for destroying Filgaia. A tower rises in the middle of the world and you climb that and end up on a space colony that orbited the planet and has a final confrontation with "Motherfried"... utterly ridicules name. After that you use the transportation device back, but are intercepted by Zeikfried that regained his own will and fight in the dimensional space causing the tower to explode and the Golem sacrificing himself to save our heroes. Freaking AWESOME.

You're an ugly Mother...

Really this game is so over the top with it's setting and it's memorable and fun to wander this world. The gameplay is amazing, besides the typical rpg you have tools in which you can traverse the dungeons which is fairly reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda, with hookshot, magic wands, bombs and radars which also gives us some rather fun puzzles (except those that are just a pain, like the four statues that makes three of them placed correctly and the fourth must be destroyed by a bomb). Also, the music is unbelievebale good and fit the western themes with acoustic guitars, whistling and so on. It's really good, although I think it glitches out on me a couple of times when it couldn't decide which music track to play or which sound effect to use... of course just change setting and you are good to go. Talking about glitches I need to tell that I played the game as intended for almost half the time then I recalled the duplicator tricks and used that to max out my stats. The trick is that you use an item twice in combat and then change it with something you only have 1 of and want to duplicate. The game doesn't realise the item has been moved so uses the items with intended effect, but since its counting the new item which only has 1 of it counts zero and then 255, giving you 255 of that item. This is a really simple glitch when even I understand why it occurs. This apparently only works on the original game, but really, the game isn't that hard and it probably saved me 10 hours of grinding for levels and cash. If I play this game again I will most likely play it as intended without the glitch, but I just wanted the story this time. 

To think that one of the characters is actually almost 30, unthinkable

A final note, I already mentioned the similarities to Lavos from Chrono Trigger, another similarities was a cutscene when a tsunami was hitting the world which looks identical to a scene played after the destruction of the Kingdom of Zael and then one of the concept arts during the credits looks awfully familiar to a similar concept art for Chrono Trigger. Just a funny note.(you could probably say the tower of Kal Dingle is similar to the Black Omen). Also, New Year Tomorrow. Wonder what 2016 will have in store.

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

Where's Jar Jar?

Finally watched the latest Star Wars movie and gotta say, I'm satisfied... of course I probably said that back in 1999 as well. I even watched episode IV-VI in anticipation and at this very moment VII feels faster and better paced than all the old ones. Better characterisation than I-III, maybe equal to the original trilogy and same music, but felt more present than the others. Very much better dialoge although some names still sound rather silly, like Snokes. Really intimidating... or maybe not. So now I'm gonna be a real Homer and spoil many parts of the movie so a fair warning.

Last warning: Spoilers ahead!

So Rey is the Jedi of this series? Fine enough. Beating of a trained... sith-lord (?) in the way of the force? Hey, if you possess stronger force powers than sure, quick learner and adaptable so fine by me.  Dual better? Here comes a grey zone. I accept Fin since the first enemy he meets with a lightsaber is a fellow stormtrooper wielding an electrified baton which seemed to work as a sword substitute and he could have got training so fine. Rey only wielded a staff... but then again, she might have gotten training in many weapons as fast she handled the blaster. All it comes down to is who her family is. I might not even have noticed if my twitter feed hadn't exploded about Mary Sue-tweets, and maybe I shouldn't care. 

Another big spoiler is that Kylo Ren is Han Solo and Leia's son, Ben. My sister think they should have gotten an actor that would have looked more like either parent. He also kills Han Solo in the end battle. And Chewie survived which was probably the biggest question when you realise Han is gonna die. It's also here they seemed to jumble the time and space to get characters at their position in the right time. Kylo Ren appearing before Rey and Fin in the woods after the killing of Solo. I know, speed-force and force jump might explain it, but still. And then we have the First Order commander picking up Kylo Ren after the battle and escape right as the planet is destroyed. When the Millennial Falcon barely makes it out. Also speaking of the Starkiller (which probably is an honourable mention to Luke's original surname) what planet was the Federation located at? Was it Courocont (sp?)?

Last spoiler is that the movie ends as Rey finds Luke Skywalker at  the first Jedi Temple location... without him saying a word. Nothing to say, good ending. Can't wait for episode VIII.

Space Harrier

What did they smoke back in the eighties?

So I got the Sega Ultimate Collection so I have 40 new (and old) games to play with upscaling so they take on the whole screen and save states. Save states that makes it possible for me to finish the damn games. Why haven't they been released on the Wii U virtual console? Why? I got many of them on the Wii virtual console, but who can finish these games without serious memorisation... or just getting good and I ain't got time for that. So save states it is. Sadly I found it used the same day it arrived where I could have saved 200-300 SEK.

Seriously, what is this?

There's no story, you are just some guy holding on to a missile which can fire lasers and you shot monsters and navigates obstacles for 18 stages... and that was pretty much gameplay as well. I played one stage like that in Wonderful 101 and I get it was a homage to this game so now that I played it... boy we didn't expect much from games back then. 18 stages? With just shifting colours and faster speed? And several bosses are the same with just a palette swap and they pretty much use the same AI... if you can call it that? I get it was still the time when high scores was the driving points of games and especially this one which was the arcade version, but come on, no explanation? Not a saving your girlfriend from the last boss or something like that? Well, at least it was an experience and it probably has some other historical value. At least it's Christmas tomorrow. Happy Christmas or whatever you celebrate.

Ace Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste!

It was AMAZINGLY COOL! Damn, this puts Apollo Justice to shame since this one has a better connection to Ace Attorney. Frankly, we have Gumshoe, Wendy Oldbag, Menkins, Lotta Hart, Maggy Pie, Viola from the loan shark agency, both Von Karmas, Payne and Larry Butz and you know  that if something smells, it's usually the Butz. They even got Ema Sky. Apollo Justice got Ema Sky and Phoenix Wright.

We're a DUO, A DUO

It's basically the same although more focus on the cases and finding evidence to use compared to the Attorney games. It's a bit more fun though since it is actually much more logical compared to Phoenix insane turn it upside down logic. Although some things make me appreciate Dual Destinies saving futures. I was gonna play it legit and did up to the last case where I restarted twice due to failure and after that I used a walkthrough to finish it up. Damn final villain was hard to get. Mostly since it was so insanely long without much way in restoring the bar at the top. Especially when I have to finger him for the crime *spoilers* you use a statue, but there is two of them so don't fail to show the right one. *spoilers*. Also, you can walk around the actual sites and at points deduce if methinks wrong and such. And the music, Edgeworths theme is one of the best and here it's used all over. The new music isn't bad either.

Murder on the dance floor.

The story is that while traveling back to the states Edgeworth stumbles upon the activities of a smuggling ring that been active for over 10 years leaving dead corpses all over and some of them being important for the career of Edgeworth himself. So it's your job to stop this ring together with the always loyal Gumshoe and series newcomer Kay Faraday, the great thief who hunts for the truth. Another things it ups over Apollo, the story actually means something for Edgeworth and those around him. It's almost like they dropped all side characters and wanted to start new with Apollo and gave Edgeworth all remaining ones. They made a sequel, but sadly it's still stuck in Japan so I must wait for the next game... whenever that is coming.

Ace Attorney: Duel Destinies

He's Back, the Man Behind the Badge and he's after... the truth?

So I finally finished this game which I got around I got the New 3DS. I played the intro and half the first "real case" and just stopped. Probably because it was just so absurd and the story didn't grip me, didn't help that the protagonist was Apollo together with newcomer Athena Sykes. It was just a stop until the next case which just flipped out on the crazies... although I knew who the bad guy was even before the murder was discovered.

Hey! Teacher! Leave these kids alone!

No, the big case is the third one which takes place before and after the tutorial case. It's long, but it needs that to establish characters, motivations and the drama. It tells the tale of sabotaged space program and how this games prosecutor Simon Blackquill ended up on death row. It's amazing and actually has a twist on the culprit that would have been really good... if I hadn't stumbled upon it at TVTroopes. Damn that site. So it spoiled the big shock which would have been awesome hadn't I read it since I couldn't have believed it. I also got the special episode telling the first case Phoenix Wright took after getting his badge back. Also a great episode which is very tragic in it's core story and at the same time really silly due to some of the premises. Both the last episode and this special one had a visit by Pearl Fey and it was so damn fun to see. Klaus Gavin also made an appearance and the best character of them all shows up to take the stand once again.

I broke the law and the law won!

The music, the scenery, the stories and the throwbacks to the earlier games all makes this game better than Apollo Justice. I care about the defendants, the lawyers have a personal stake in it and friends get in trouble and have to take the stand so I can save them. I can dislike Blackquill and at the same time pity him after I find out how he became so twisted and see his good sides. Apollo Justice probably suffered from having Phoenix Wright shoved into the story, but this game knew how to use all three attorney's. One final note I have to mention is that the game is a lot easier, both gameplay wise and I think as well overall, I hardly had any trouble and I didn't feel the need to... "look ahead" so to speak. The gameplay changes are that I can save and reload anywhere... which makes it possible to cheat a bit by save scumming the answers, but why bother when the game lets you restart from the final question you depleted your bar with and they even refill it. This takes away the dread from having to figure out a puzzle before you have to restart 1-2 hours of lost game progress. Quite enjoyable overall and I'm at the moment busy with Ace Investigations, the spin-off staring Miles Edgeworth himself. Oh, this is gonna be so cool.

Resident Evil 4

The first Resident Evil game I've ever played

I noticed in the last post I never wrote anything about this game so I decided to amend that and I finished it a couple of times with only hard difficulty setting left... and I will probably not finish that since I had a hard time on Normal, of course I used the special costume that made Ashley invincible making the more frustrating parts a little bit easier. The story is that Leon Kennedy has just been assigned as the US presidents body guard, but his daughter have been kidnapped and your first assignment is to get to Spain and get her back. A nice stroll through the Spanish countryside, how quaint.

Oh, the welcome committee, you didn't have to.

As per usual with Resident Evil all villagers have been infected, not with a virus, but with a parasite. A local chief, noble and a cultist leader are using it to take over the world as they want to infect Ashley that can infect the President and then they can take control of the US and of course THE WORLD! Obviously, its up to you to stop them. The plot is rather easy, but they made it atmospherical as you play through the first time and begins to figure out what's happening. There is like 4 different locations. The village, the castle, the island and a medical facility. Really, the village and castle are the best parts although the enemies are getting a bit frustrated in the castle area with instant kill and crossbows. Of course those are all over the island and facility. Plus it just feels more like a shooter at that point... or more like a sniper shooter. 

The easy mode for all other modes... or the mode to play the whole game

I got the Wii version just before Halloween back in... 2009? 2010? I can't remember, but I recall I had to restart after playing through the first part since I completely bungled the resources and finding the treasures to sell and upgrade my weapons. So with a walkthrough on the computer I played it through on Easy. I also figured I missed certain areas that was missing so to get the full experience I had to play it at least on Normal, but thank god for the mobster costume that gives Ashley a suit of armour that makes her invincible to attacks and to heavy to be carried away. Stress eliminated for several encounters in the castle as you could take your time with the sniper, which incidentally is probably the best weapon as its the most powerful and if you line the shoots up save a ton of ammo from other weapons. Of course the semi-automatic sniper is the way to go as you don't have to loose the sight each and every bullet reload.

I hate the later game monster

Replaying the game is a very satisfying procedure unfortunately it is crippled with a bit of irritating game design. First, if you want to change difficulty, start a new save. No keeping the old weapons on other difficulties and they probably saw that as a fault as well, since both 5 and Revelations makes it able to change difficulty. Another problem though is that you can't delete saves. I got it that you could if you deleted the save thing on the console, but the problem is all unlockables disappears as well. So I made another mistake and that was saving every singel act change and such meaning I now have several saves, when I at most need 3, one for each difficulty. So if I want to change that I have to replay the game 3 times.... I hate that.