The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Wii U)

 

"I'm a captain of a ship

My ship is charmed, and called Plutonia."

After Ocarina of Time I got a bit tasty for another one, but which one to play? I just bought the Wii U virtual console versions of the DS Zelda games since the eshop was shutting down so I gotta play it? Released originally on the DS back in 2007 I got it first day and played through it twice if I recall and nothing after that. I have very few memories of this game, mostly about sailing and collecting ship parts. Nothing about the dungeons or bosses besides the final boss and the Temple of the Ocean King... helps a bit that you constantly travels to it. 

Story is a direct sequel to Wind Waker where Link and Tetra and her pirate crew are sailing across the sea in search of the Pirate Ship that terrorise the ocean. They find it, Tetra jumps on it, disappears, screams and Link follows after but ends falling into the water. He dreams about Tetra being captured and wakes up on an island where a fairy named Ceilia takes him to her grandpa that tells Link how to fight the evil of the ghost ship to rescue Tetra. Collect three fairies corresponding to the triforce, Courage, Wisdom and Strength. 

After that you enter the Ghost Ship and finds Tetra, but she is now petrified into a stone statue, so you learn that grandpa is actually the mythical Ocean King that was sealed away by Bellum, the evil that controls the ghosts ship. To defeat it you need the Phantom Sword... which doesn't exist so you gotta get three ores that you then create the sword from. You get the sword, get to the bottom of the Temple of The Ocean King, defeats Bellum, Tetra awakens, Bellum merges with the ghost ship, you blast it open, Bellum possess Linebeck (the owner of the ship you have been using during the adventure), you stab him in the back and the games over, the end.

It was fun replaying it since it's probably 15 years since I played it so it feels like a completely new game. Problem was getting used to the controls again, but once I got a hang of it, it was kinda enjoyable. Interesting knowing that every gimmick the DS could hold was used for this game, you gotta use the microphone to talk to people, fight some monster (just like the original Legend of Zelda on the Famicom), the game is completely controlled with the stylus and the original at one point you had to close the lid on the DS to print a map onto your map, which they fixed by pushing the home-button on the Wii U. I played the screens separated for most of the time, except on the damn archery mini-game. Which I also used the save-function to get past it. Don't think I cleared the mini-game back in the day.

It might not have the amount of dungeons or such like the other Zelda's (just 7 dungeons, that's like Zelda II numbers), but it has a lot to do if you have time to spend. Collecting ship parts, salvage treasures, fishing, archery mini-game, cannon mini-game... mostly to get ship parts, but it can be fun to build your own ship, a bit disappointed to learn that the numbers of hearts only correlates to the numbers of parts from the same set. I also checked my old save and saw that I missed a heart and a couple of gems for the different fairies, but I had every single treasure collected through the game without selling it... cash bonanza!

Overall, a fun game. Is it in the bottom of the Zelda games? Maybe, the graphics are a bit rough and the music is pretty much just Wind Waker music recycled so it doesn't stand out in anyway. A bit small as mentioned with very few dungeons and such. But I like Linebeck so that is a plus. Was a bit worried when I realised that all items you had to change in real time against enemies, but since I just brute forced my way through the Temple of the Ocean King and defeated him even though badly hurt by the phantoms and such you can take some hits and being slow. So I should be able to play it again when I turn 50.

The 7th Guest (Book)

 

Welcome Back!

For some reason I seem to like to get novelisations of supposedly horror games. After playing the 7th Guest I looked on TV-Tropes and got a bit more backstory on the game, and I think everything was taken from this book. The first chapters being the intro sequence from the game with Stauf how he murdered the church-going lady, got visions of a doll and then began selling them. Inbetween each of the Stauf chapters there is a time jump to the "present" and how each guest got the invitation and setting up their motivation. Edward Knox meeting a couple of hired goons that want to cash in on his debt, Martine that returned from New York after she was dumped by her then boyfriend and feeling distanced from this small town and wanting something grander, Brian Dutton who have nightmares about seeing the death of his brother as he fell into the lake and drowning while they were iceskating which gave him the opportunity to make something of himself, Julia that have been fired from her banking job due to being drunk on her job and finally Hamilton Temple, the former stage magician that have grown to old to continue his acts of magic.

Interesting set up for the characters, but most is given to Henry Stauf and what drives him, namely the voices in his head. It appears the book hints that Stauf is given instructions by some spirits from another dimension, demons or something, and their goal is to accumulate enough child spirits to open a portal to earth so that they can pass through and wreck havoc upon the world. We could probably guess something like that was happening due to knowing that children were trapped in the dolls and how he seemed to have demonic powers at the end, but it is neat to have the end goal spelled out. Something that wasn't explained in the game is that after the murder he is taken into custody, but are not suspected on the murder due to another drifter being caught stealing the coat of the victim (which leads to that person hanging himself after two days of "questioning" by the local police that even roughed up Stauf for begging, according to the police at least). The money he got went to pay back the latest victim of a theft he caused, but I thought he used the money to get some drinks that then lead to exchanging the doll he carved for room and board. But the doll was all he had. 

After this it's basically going for the people arriving at the scene and every scene is described in chronological order so you get what is happening since the game is a bit out of order. Which is a strength since you have the scene of Julia strangling Hamilton fairly early creating this feeling of what happened? The game has the advantage of seemingly giving different death scenes, Hamilton either gets strangled by Julia or is killed by an apparatus in the lab, Dutton either gets stabbed by Edward or gets some flesh eating chemicals that eat through his arms (I thought at least while playing the game, I mean, his room lead to a laboratory). Martine seemed to escape unharmed in the games if you look past the turning into a monster in the crypt or disappearing into the bath, in the book she just dies in the crypt as Edward is killed by Hamilton, which probably also shows a bit of problem with the book since it tries to tie up loose ends and it doesn't always succeed. An example is, how did Hamilton get to the lab? It is past the chapel behind Duttons room and the book just hand-waves it that he went through some doors and ended up there. Same near the ending as Julia is just sent from one floor to where Tad is and then is brought up to the attic to Stauf. They explain it that the powers behind Stauf alters the house for him.

Overall, a couple of scenes was added that you didn't see in the game. First is the things that happened they describe in the library scene (the one that gates you from continuing after doing some puzzles), the mad choir Dutton hears, the blood running in the basement that Elinor experience and some kind of Lovecraftian horror that Hamilton sees in the library that tries to get through the glass-doors. Then we had two scenes with Elinor, the first is after looking through the mace in her room she gets a vision of a man sitting beside her and beginning kissing her, but she resist that as it then turns into Stauf. Which is interesting since it mirrors Edwards fall as he is seduced by Martine, but he doesn't even try or not for long at least. The second scene is as she goes to the attic after learning about the children together with Hamilton and she begins the transformation to the mannequin. Which is kinda horrifying. One scene that disappeared was the bathroom scene with Martine, I guess because nothing actually happens, no dialogue, it was more selling on its sex appeal which isn't that easy in the book. Maybe if they had done it like a thing before the library gathering, but she was sceptical which means they would have to redo the scene. 

One thing that bothers me in both the game and the book is that the ending doesn't make sense. The main player is playing as an older version of Tad that now have gotten a second chance to make right (I assume it failed the first time since they all haunted the mansion) and somehow send Stauf to the devil. The book makes an explanation that the souls of the children channeled through Elinor Knox (that is described to being psychic, or almost the Shining  from the Stephen King novel) somehow allows the good ending to happen. It's a bit messy. And it's ends very abrupt like in the game, but I wonder if Tad escaped the mansion (all adults are pretty much dead so that ain't happening). And if that happens, how is Tad's future version supposed to exist? I haven't been able to play the 11th hour as of yet and it doesn't appear to be a book version, the only book is some children book.

Final note, it was decent enough, probably only for those that have played the game. Which makes the book better since you can hear the voices of the characters as they speak. Especially Hamilton and his overacting style. I mean... REAL Magic, could STAUF do this, FOR ME? It's awesome!

Shining in the Darkness (Sega Mega Drive II Mini) (1 000 post)

 

Guess the magician is evil?

So what shall be the first game to play off the Mini II? What's this? A game made by the people behind the Golden Sun-series? And it's an RPG? Sign me up! This is Shining in the Darkness, the first game in the Shining-series, that would turn into a tactical strategy fantasy game. But at its start it was a dungeon crawler rpg.

Game starts with you, the son of Mordred, the greatest knight of the realm (which I named ERIK since it had a 5 character limit and my real name has 6 characters in it, that and I didn't learn that his official name is Hiro until way later) being summoned to the king since Mordred and Princess Jessa have disappeared and is believed to being held in the nearby Labyrinth of the Ancients. You set out alone and delve through the first level of the Labyrinth until you defeat the first boss and finds the Royal Tiara belonging to the Princess. As you take it to the king he tasks you to find a party and rescue his daughter. You find your friends Pyra Myst and Milo Brax in the nearby town and together you set out to find the Princess. Pyra being a wizard herself and Milo being a cleric we have a power-trio dnd party.

Turns out she has been kidnapped by the magician Dark Sol so you have to traverse the trail of the Ancients, consisting the caves of Strength, Courage, Truth and Wisdom to climb to the higher levels of the Labyrinth. I played the game first on the Wii Virtual Console when I lived with my parents and I thought I got pretty far, I had my hand-drawn maps of the four caves and the first two floors of the Labyrinth, turns out there was 3 more levels. So I got to complete my maps after like 8-9 years. Yeah, I found my old maps so that made the early stage fairly easy, as soon as I was able to figure out what I meant. 

Graph paper, an adventurers best tool for exploration.

You finds out that Dark Sol is actually the wizard Melvyn that have acted as a consul for the king and even told you about the trail of the ancient. On the 4th floor you find Princess Jessa trapped in a cell and the key protected by a brainwashed Mordred that you have to kill. You break out the Princess and returns to the king and then prepares for the final battle against Dark Sol. You have decked out your knight with the light arms, Milo with mythril equipment and Pyra with everything left. Without grinding I got up all characters between 56-51 levels and that was easy enough. Dark Sol's motivations wasn't that clear, at first it sounded like he only wanted the power of darkness that was sealed in the Labyrinth, but as I faced him he talked about finally finding someone that could challenge him. He got vaporised anyway after his second form was defeated. You return, becomes a first knight and lord of a castle, Milo joins you while Pyra becomes the apprentice of the wizard Xern, the former master of Melvyn... is that really a good thing? He already created one dark lord and Pyra does have some evil tendencies since in her first appearance she puts slow on a person that bumped into her that we then had to save from the Labyrinth when he got caught there.

It was a fun game. Music catchy and the graphics was really nice. I could clearly see where Camelot got some of the graphical ideas that they used later on in Golden Sun (menus and such). There is a nod to Golden Axe with the Weapon Merchant being the dwarf from those games as well. Problems? The menu systems would need an overhaul since it's a lot back and forth to find what you want in the shops and that there is no easy way to see if equipment is better or worse when you look at them is a rather irritating nuisance. But it's at least worth trying. Lastly an interesting thing I noticed on the statistics of the characters, the mage characters Pyra and Milo has so much higher ground stats for defence meaning they actually take less damage until the end game when the main character gets the light arms. I get why, you got a lot more amor for the fighter, but it feels weird in a dnd way that the mage at least is bulkier (since I currently have a cleric dwarf in the campaign I get they can take some damage).

This also seems to be the 1 000 post I've ever done! Only took me 15 years to reach, and it all began with me travelling to the US to study international relations... didn't get much use for that in my career, but at least the internship allowed me to get the job at the public agency. Here's for another 1 000 posts!

Sega Mega Drive Mini II

 

Now it looks almost right!

It arrived, the second mini console from Sega made by M2, the first one I wrote about back in 2020 just before the global pandemic hit all supply chains stopping productions on most things. Now it's 2022 (as of writing) and it looks that the world economy is about to tank after post-pandemic cuts in the welfare states, housing crashing, inflation rising and the Ukraine-Russian war still continues. So why wouldn't I get the console that looks like the one I owned as a kid and let nostalgia surround me and just hide from the world outside? I also spent some time waiting for confirmation of any European pre-order and when it was released I put in the pre-order for it on the British Amazon and got it without problem during my autumn holiday week. Thought I would have some problems with the Brexit deal, but I think I lucked out since then the British government imploded sending the £ falling meaning I might have got it a bit cheaper since the order was in £. Thanks Liz Truss! (Topical Political Humour, the brand of a political scientist)

More serious, what was in the box? The console, some cables and only one controller, but it was a 6-button one, so If I ever want to play Street Fighter I have a perfect controller. The best button is the mode-button which that takes you to the system menu so that you can save your game, restart or get back to the main menu and choose another game. The games then? It has 60 games total, 12 being Sega CD games and 7 being unreleased games (I think, it says presenting on the back but Space Harrier II is on both mini consoles and I don't know why). Not that many games that haven't shown up before in compilations or virtual consoles, especially the CD-games. The only games I got before are Phantasy Star II, Shining Force II, Shining in the Darkness, Sonic CD, Golden Axe II, Alien Soldier and I think I got Ristar on a Sega compilation. They even got ToeJam and Earl 2, famous from the Clan of the Grey Wolf-review!

In actuality, the game selection isn't that grand and I was a bit happier with the first console. There are some omissions that I would have liked, for example the Lunar games, but I understand that it didn't get added for the western release since the owner of the english localisation wanted a bit more payment for the english translation and you got them on the japanese version. As stated in my post on the PC Engine mini console, I would have liked the Sega CD version of Snatcher so that I actually could play it in english. Neat with some of the CD games that I only seen on youtube reviews, like Night Trap and Sewershark... but they look awful. Night Trap I get is re-released not that long ago that makes it look good and probably a better purchase than the original Sega version.

Still, I gotta say I like this song.

Is there anything else that the console does? There is some games that have gotten updates. For example Phantasy Star II that got an easy mode where EXP and gold is given out in higher amounts, diminishing the grind, which makes that probably the best version to play since I've heard that is one of the problems with the original version (that I now own 4 versions of, Wii Virtual Console, PS3 compilation, Switch compilation and now this mini console).

Is there something else? I don't like that the manuals are locked on the web, should have been accessed from the menu so I could read it directly on the console (especially when certain games need it to understand what the hell I'm doing), but didn't happen on the first console either. As mentioned above, I already got the Space Harrier II (and on the Switch compilation as well) and it's a bit of a cop-out with with Ecco CD since they gave me Ecco on the last mini console as well, but that is 2 out of 60 games so I can overlook that. And I assume the CD version have better music. I would say to me I will probably play most games on here before any other version (at least Wii and PS3 due to simpler save functionality and ease off start and quit the console, which goes for all mini consoles, only my Switch would be easier).