Final Fantasy XIII

13 was always an unlucky number

So I finally finished it, 6 years after I bought it and played most of it. Some may recall when I talked about during that year about how I felt about it and I wasn't that negative against it... and then I stopped playing it for 6 years. So something must have happened, what? Well, the talked about corridor disappeared, opening up the world and allowing side quests together with taking of the roof of the level up system. And the roof forced me grind up to the max each step before a boss and suddenly I'm thrown into this open world where I must grind and grind to max out. Also the side quest monsters were way above my league so grinding was the only option. So no wonder I stopped. I was tired of running back and forth on this damn map accumulating a couple of million crystallise points to level up my characters. Before that I had no problem since even though it didn't allow me to explore it at least gave me story segments in different intervals and the roof on my level up system forced me onward since what was the point of grinding?

The area that broke me, Gran Pulse

Grinding is also some of the most mind numbing exercises I've ever done in a game. But the system should be right up my ally. I've hardly ever using status ailments or buffs if the game doesn't requires it (like Skies of Arcadia) so this automatic version is perfect. As soon as the enemies are "read" the AI instantly knows which are the most effective spells and strategy working for it. As a player all I have to focus on is choosing the appropriate Paradigm for buffing, rebuffing, healing, defending or what type of attacks I should do. But the battles takes forever since the strategy to defeat the enemies are as fast as possible to stagger them which often destroys their shields and makes them vulnerable. And I just mash X until the health goes down when the medic paradigm sets in. I actually can watch my tweeter feed while playing since all I need for the most is pressing X. It's almost as if the game wants to be an action-rpg, but chickens out due to the ATB/turn-based roots of the Final Fantasy-series. So I've changed a bit from my initial reactions to the game, is it due to everyone else saying it's bad or is there something else? So why was I able to overlook the flaws when I began playing? Because the story had some interesting elements to it that sadly didn't fulfil their potential.

Cocoon... was it some sort of moon?

So as far I can remember of the plot (it's been 6 years since I played it last and I quit just before the end, no way am I playing the game from start). The Fal'Cie are entities that gives the world of Cocoon food, light, warmth, protection and what not. They serve the humans on the order of the Maker. In turn the people are more or less apathetic and care free to their surrounding. An interesting start. I think this is supposed to parallel the welfares state problems in that the more welfare the government provides the more apathetic it's citizens get and are more easily manipulated (remember I'm a political scientist so I probably read to much into this). Meanwhile the Fal'Cie are tired and hatch a plan to release themselves from this non-existance. They are gonna kill the humans in order to get the attention of the Maker. Also an interesting story point. It's basically Skynet becoming self-aware. How can you mess something like this up? The background so to speak it interesting, but the foreground, aka the main protagonist, are just boring. All six main protagonists are Le'Cie, branded humans that are given a mission by the Fal'Cie and if they don't fulfil them they are transformed to Cie'th. And if they perform there's so called "Focus" they get crystallised. Not the best incitement to do as the gods tell you really. 4 of them are from Cocoon while the other 2 are humans from Gran Pulse, Cocoons enemy and the planet below Cocoon and they have been crystallised before. Most of these met up when the Sanctum looked down this town where a Le'Cie was spotted and the whole town was scheduled for purging. They join up as Snow and Lightning looks for Serah (Lightnings sister and Snow's girlfriend) near the awakened Pulse Fal'Cie. Sarah get crystallised so Snow and Lightning want to save her. Hope wants to kill Snow due to his mom being killed in their escape from the Purge train. Vanilla and Fang are from Gran Pulse and Sazh... well, he looks for his son? Now, in battle you only have 3 characters... so why couldn't it just been 3 people? I mean, I don't care for anyone of them and I say that since I can't remember much about them. Nothing stand out. Compare that to Grandia which I also took a break from, but I still remembered the characters and what defined them. Here I had to look on summaries to remember what the hell happened.

Why should I care about you?

Really, had they minimised it to 3 characters and giving them clear motivations instead of being puppets led by the puppet master it would have been more interesting. Another problem is that a lot of the story isn't told by the game, but lies in the datalogs you unlock. Why? Show, don't tell, and especially not make me read in a video game in 2010 to explain the story unless I can explore a library within the world itself, you know, in a town maybe. It can flesh out the story, but here it is needed to tell me basic ideas of what the Fal'Cie and so on is. Really, make the main character a Pulse human that have amnesia from waking up and let two supporting characters tell me what the world is about. Even more so, instead of purging people for being in contact with the Le'Cie, purge towns due to a limited amount of resources the Fal'Cie can create, forcing a population control. Let the Fal'Cie be an overprotective dictatorship and that humans must move out of their comfort zone to really achieve greatness. Make them conserve the society. Really, much better settings and for the love of god, let me talk to humans so I can care about their daily life. The only ones talking is the protagonist and antagonist in this game. Why should I care about all the other humans. Are they decent or just pigs? They seem to hate me out of fear, but come on why? They destroy a town, but why should I care? Make me talk to villager and then purge it if you have to. That makes me at least invest a bit more in this world. 

This was... Serah?

You notice that there can have been great improvement to the story. That is the greatest sink of the whole game, I don't connect with the characters or the setting. Here the minimised exploration hurt it even more. On the other hand the game looks absolutely gorgeous for being 6 years old and the music is fine enough. Mind you it isn't Nobuo Uematsu and they seem to have taken away classic tracks like the Final Fantasy intro and the victory fanfare, but it's nice listening to. Although it doesn't stand out. and lastly we have the weapon and armour upgrade system. It's pretty much rigged so you have to have a guide to even understand what you should do. Collecting certain items you can upgrade your equipment, but not in collect certain items to create the next type of weapon, no, you use the items to give it experience points so you level up the equipment. If you max out there is always other items to push it beyond. Problem is that I ended with I think my standard weapons, but over level 50. Are they good? I don't know I don't dare start levelling up another weapon since I first don't have enough material to reach the same level and secondly I don't know if it would be good anyway. Should I have waited until later to start levelling up, but then the question arises... would I have defeated the bosses without an overpowered weapon? I actually found a sword called Lionheart which is a throwback to VIII and as the last weapon in the game (as I understand it) should it not be the best weapon? And if it is how should I know? At the moment I start checking out the two sequels and every one says those are much better. And instant thought is, maybe I should play those. Maybe the time they are on sale, but sadly, this feels like the last Final Fantasy game I will play. XV everyone talks about, but since that is a PS4 it will take a long time before I even try it. On the other hand PS4 is also getting Ni No Kuni 2 and that would actually be fun... I hope.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)

Indiana Toad and the Raiders of the Power Star

Finally, back on consoles and we got a spin-of of Super Mario 3D World and the first game staring Toad (which I know of). This game was released in 2015 (in Europe that is) and it took me one year to finish it, ending at the end for some reason. I guess more urgent games to play occupied the console for a bit. Why I bought it I don't remember either. Now that I think about it, maybe it was due to no other games and I stopped playing this game in February when the New 3DS and Majora's Mask 3D was released and due to better performance and gameplay I played more 3DS. It doesn't really matter so on with the game.

Pictured: The Toad brigade. The only one doing anything useful is the blue one.

Captain Toad and Toadette is looking for treasures and stumbles upon a Power Star, but it belongs to the evil bird Wingo and... that is a ridicules name. Toadette grabs on the Power Star and is more and less kidnapped. Don't worry, they will switch it around during the course of the game. The game is divided into 3 books with several courses where either Captain Toad or Toadette has to find the Power star, 3 crystals hidden in the level and a secret objective that you might or might not be able to do on the first run. The only means of attack is falling on them, throwing a vegetable on them or lure them in a stage hazard. And you can't jump. Boo's you can defeat with your headlamp and that is pretty much it. Sometimes there is what would be call a boss stage... although it isn't much fighting and still puzzle solving. I only recall Wingo being the only "boss" you had to fight by throwing vegetables at him. So why wasn't Wart part of this game? He hasn't done anything since Link's Awakening so maybe give him some slack.

The last of the Toad brigade and the most useful one after the captain

Anyway, this was a spin-of of Mario 3D World, but as the ending shows, this is set before that game. That makes this a prequel. All in all it's a fun game that makes you think, especially if you are gonna 100 % with finding all crystals, do all side missions and I think there is a time trial as well. So it will keep you occupied for a while. And basically the only reason to play is the puzzle. The story is just a framing device and there is no actual words spoken or written, but it works for what it is. Graphics are nice and the music, if not outstanding at least gives the right atmosphere depending on the stage. Well that's that. Wonder what game I should play now.

Quest for Infamy: Demo

Quest for Glory VII: The Dark and Edgy Sequel

So after several weeks of Quest for Glory playing back and forth together with a love letter (to those kind of games that is) I had my hands on this demo for an anti-hero character. Compared to every other game this character is named. Mister William Roehm, a person wandering from town to town, leaving before things get to ugly for his taste. His latest adventure led him to escape a fair nobel ladies room before getting caught and getting into the town of Volksville. On the day of an execution no less of a thief named Markus van Houten (I assume it's a Simpson reference) voiced by non other than Paw Dugan, the person that introduced me to the Quest for Glory-series. How neat.

Boy, you don't look well Sneakyfeet

So if you break the law your dead. Gotcha! So in the meantime I've conversed with the local populace and some people at the pub have a proposition for me. They want me to find a monster just outside town, kill it and take its silver teeth's and melt them down. Now problem is I probably would have been better of as a brigand (the fighter option) or even the sorcerers option (since that is what I've preferred so far) instead of the rouge they gave me, but since this is a demo I can't complain. They lift me over the gate and I wanders the forest and what have we here? Something that looks like the behemoth from the Heroes of Might and Magic-games. And now I get my ass kicked. On what really can be described as the first enemy of the game. Maybe that one monster I met crossing a bridge should best have been avoided. So in 3 tries the best strategy was... just slash. I got lucky, with 9 hp left my enemy was down on 5 hp and tried escape giving me the final blow. 

Your an ugly mother******!

And now the most irritating moment in the game. So as per usual playing a rouge the best option is always be in stealth mode to level it up. Thing is as this is a demo it doesn't register. This gave me the impression I'm set, the skills are set. So how do I get back in town? Turns out the climbing skill isn't, it goes to 20 which is the max required skill to enter town again. So train and train until you get in. So what do I do with the teeth's? Well obviously you need to melt them and there is a smith that happens to be open at night. But he doesn't want to take them since there's something fishy about them. Now, I might not be a smith, but it's monster teeth? Who would care? That argument goes back to the... whatever they are in the pub. Since this is part adventure game it of course have some irritating puzzles. So how do I melt the teeth? Well, I'm not prepared for this so go back to the forest and get a helmet in a stump near a dead guy which I missed due to the stump disappearing into the background and I thought it just was the falling head of the dead guy that was important. Then put the teeth in the helmet. Get back to the smith. When he looks away, untie the horse and then smack it so it runs away and he follows, pick up his tongs, use them on the helmet and then melt them in the forge, put back the tongs and pick up the silver medal you made. I thought I was an anti-hero. Of course, they point out the smith would kill me in one hit, but still. You give the rouges(?) in the pub the medal and the demo is over. A small teaser cutscene tells me that the monster has some important owner, and they don't like the events unfolding before them so they will let a "friend" take care of me.

So that was the demo. Hard to say if I actually like this one. On one hand the mature nature of the game sets it a bit apart from the other games I've played, but since I only played an intro I can't say if I like it or not. Quality wise, I think Heroine's Quest was better with better mouth animation and the voices overall better (again, only played the intro). Maybe the designs of the character portraits looks better, but that is a small detail. Gameplay wise I can only see one difference between the different games and that is Infamy have a influence meter and since that one haven't come into play I can't say if it brings anything new to the table. I was thinking of getting it right away, especially since steam had a sale on it, but you know how it is. Windows only. And apparently version 2.0 is on the way so I guess I wait a bit longer. Of course you can get it directly from the developers website and you can actually get it on Mac as well, but full price and you know I might be a bit burnt out on the same type of games. Maybe should take a break and play some console games again. And yes, I know, I'm leaving two games hanging with Quest for Glory V and the full version of this game, but I might have an idea for fixing Dragon Fire. But we shall see.

Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok

Quest for Glory...VI???

So I couldn't get Quest for Glory V: Dragon's Fire to work due to some file issues and I have to fix it someday, but I still had this craving for a similar styled game so I had this free game to try out. You can find it on the company Crystal Shard's website. Of course it only works on Windows, but throw it inside a wine wrapper and it works flawlessly on the Mac. Back to the game it works pretty much like the Quest for Glory games, with just some other skills like herbalism and a completely different spell list. Also they introduced other effects like frostbite... no not the spell from Quest for Glory IV, but the actual condition frostbite. In this game shown as a snow flake which drains your stamina if you stay out in the snow to long so basically don't wander out for to long if you can't stop it. Luckily I'm a sorceress supreme which with Flame Aura can banish the cold from my body... which I didn't figure out until chapter 3. You achieve that effect by using it on yourself. Wished I knew that in chapter 1 as I was running round in circles to find a fire to warm myself beside.

Well, that's one alternative

So you start the game as usual, name your character, choose your class between warrior, sorceress and rouge, assign points and send her away. Yes, in this game you are a woman and nothing wrong with that. You are travelling the world of Midgar and during an avalanche caused by the two-headed troll Thrivaldi you are knocked out and taken to the city (or town... or village) Fornsigtuna where you wake up. The land is caught in the Fimbulvinter, the great winter that forbodes Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods. If you haven't guessed it by all the names already the game draws inspiration from norse mythology. Anyway, so it's in the middle of an overly long winter meaning food is scarce so my Sorceress Sasha has to walk out in the city gates to find food all the time watching the stamina bar and avoiding the local enemies and monsters. I think it took somewhere around 10 deaths before I mapped out the starting area and finally found some roots to gnaw on (hint for new players, they are 1 screen south from the gate, geez). Now, used to the Glory-series the character usually eats automatically when need arises and you have rations on you. Here I have to do it manually. It took me until evening to figure it out since your character won't go to sleep if hungry so after clicking everything I finally grasped the food system. 

The standard classes

Finally I can sleep and the next morning I meet the Jarl that gives me a magic map (this is probably the best improvement this game does on this formula since it maps out where I've been and also show important landmarks in the different squares making it getting lost impossible... wish I could turn of the "here is the story figures") and some rations. So they let you out to stop the Fimbulvinter. You meet the three Norns that tell you of the eminent Ragnarok in the hands of Egther, the last frost giant in Midgard and the likely cause of this winter. Basically he's imprisoned in a fort in this area and needs the two Eyes of Thiassi to release him (or making it possible for a human to kill him). The eyes are guarded by the leaders of the two townes in the area and this is kicked of as you rescue the leader of the other city from dying in the snow after a fight with Thrivaldi. Meanwhile Thrivaldi kidnapps the smiths boy and they take him to Svartalfheim and you have to save him as well. Doing so opens up the city of the Svartalfs and to get the eyes you have to get the people in the first two cities to vouch for you. Mostly by doing them a favour like finding their cat, rescuing them from jail or work as a matchmaker. You do the good deeds and get the eyes and heads toward the keep where you are ambushed by Thrivaldi. Since the troll(s?) believed himself the smartest he would prove this by... tying me up at a rock infused with the Aesir's (the norse gods) blessing rune. First a wolf comes by, but apparently it only wants honey... must have missed that part in the mythology class. Then it's just releasing yourself with a blessing on the rock and you are free and dawn approaches and as we all know trolls don't stand the sun that well.

Beware THE DOOM SQUIRREL!

You enter the keep and Egther literary throws you to the wolves, in the shape of Fenrir, the wolf that will devour the moon. Of course 2 lightning bolts slays the beast that bit Tyr's hand... which lies right beside me actually. Blink out and we are faced with a paradox puzzle from Escape from Monkey Island. You see yourselves, she does some action and say some phrases and hands you an mystical item. You enters a portal which shows you the destruction of Fornsigtuna by the hands of the Jotun where you have to take a bag with a seed from one of Idunn's apples and a ice key that hanged in the Jarl's throne room. You then ends up at the magical garden as it is created. Plant the seed to get the apple in the present to save the sick guild master (which you already done). And don't take anything cause it will cause a paradox so severe it boots you to the title screen instead of the restart/restore/quit screen. And lastly you return to the present where you now must redo the exact sequence when you found your doppelgänger and pass by to the door of Egther. Save outside is recommended since the endgame battle is impossible to save between and it's time to start the epic MAGIC DUEL TO DEATH!!!

Stormbringer's coming, Thunder and Lightning heading your way

It's rather similar to the duel with the Shaman in Quest for Glory III especially when Egther opens a hole right under me where I have to blink out which compares to the use of the Leviate spell. Basically trial and error until you get it, but more and more irritating the further you get since you can't save scum the answer so you start over and over again. I also got stuck when Egther summons a blizzard. First thought Arctic Wind to dispel it, but no, I'm frozen solid. So maybe Flame Aura? No, frozen solid. I couldn't think on what to do so I checked it up and the answer was Sixth Sense. Which I actually used before in another blizzard while saving the child. Good foreshadowing, a pity I couldn't remember it. That's basically most problem I have had with the puzzles. I can't remember how my spells works. Or I just don't know. The blessing spell gives me extra luck and I need it to get a fish while fishing in a ice hole. This is also the point when I realise I could use spells on myself and get bonuses like Flame Aura and Blessing. Well, that's just a side note so let's return to the Egther battle. So how do you defeat a Frost Giant when your only flame spell is Flame Aura that don't do hardly anything beside blinds Egther in battle? Well, you fool him to use his own flame spell and then you use Arctic Wind to suck him into it and destroy himself. A rather decent battle and pretty much better than the end magic duel in Quest for Glory IV.  The keep crumbles and you run out to meet the local wizard that takes you back to town. Spring finally returns and the people congratulates you and you fly away on the flying ship the Jarl owned in search of adventures in other lands. And after the credits you are told of how your character is killed in battle and how Brunhild arrives with the Bifrost to take you to Valhalla. Now it might sound like a bad ending, but since the game is based on nordic mythology this actually makes sense and is the highest honour for a warrior in a Viking society, to die in battle and be chosen to enter Valhalla.

She was a magic... woman

Now, this was a fun game that easily satisfies the Quest for Glory craving. A pity there won't be a continuation with my character since that would be fun, but what would that be? It's basically set in a mythology world which, even if it has 9 realms are clearly defined and using the same setting would cause it to feel like repeats. But then again, it's just the earth so one could possible travel to distant lands like Asia and the Americas (settings which the Glory-series never touched). Now the game has voice acting (even for the heroine) and for being a completely non-profit it's rather good voices (although I don't always know if the pronunciation of the norse words are that good all the time). Bug wise I had no problem until after I stoned Thrivaldi and I just wanted to test what would happen if I blessed him and using the magic button caused the game to crash. Lucky for me I just saved and it wasn't any problem. Music is fine, two recognisable tunes are Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg for the norwegian drama Peer Gynt and Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie. The norse inspired locals and monsters is rather fun to play though, but I must admit I had a hard time remembering certain myths and I think people who never read anything around this could be stumped. For example some of the Svartalfer has challenges and one is three tests. First is to run faster than your opponents thought. If you don't get that it's his thoughts how would you know that a solution is make him drunk, since you think slower? The other one is a bit easier since you can actually get that it's a flame you are fighting in an eating contest so using an ice flower works well. In the myth I believe it actually was to drink the ocean and the last was to lift earth itself, but it was a long time ago since I actually read any or watched a summary of those stories. Still wished I knew what the animated (well... maybe more like still pictures) series telling about the myths was called. Most I remember was that the ending sequence showed the world tree Yggdrasil in a circle or whatever while the credits rolled. If anyone knows please tell me so I could get a nostalgia kick. Wonder what I should play now?

Update 2023-11-25: Well, Ifound the series, apparently called something like "Gods, Wizards and Monsters" and Ican actually see it on the public channel. How nice!