Metal Slug 3

By some the best Metal Slug-game, I'm not one of them.

Why they choose to release Metal Slug 3 as the first game in the series for Switch I don't know. The first one would have been logical, but for the whole scope of the game I might guess why. It's really the biggest of the games with different paths to take and an ending chapter goes on for very long. It's an awesome end game for sure, but it goes on forever, starting with a fly attack upon the base, which leads to a retake of the ending battle of the first game, but follows up with a space ride, an attack on an alien mothership and then escape. There's planes, submarines, a mammoth and much more to travel in compared to the first game. What's not to like? It's a cheap shot game. Damn bosses takes way to much life, certain routes like the underwater route of the first stage is hard as hell.

Story is that some years after defeating the alien threat of the second game you set out to cleanup the rebel bases of general Morden who is presumed dead. Meanwhile you discover that the aliens are still around. You round both up but discover that general Morden is still alive so you make one final attack, but it turns out it is a alien. That kidnaps your character as well. So you get one of the other characters and  joins up with the rebel forces and follows into space were you save both Morden and your first character and escapes the alien mothership by falling to the sky in a Metal Slug. But like in Wild ARMS you get attacked by a big monster that apparently is the leader of the aliens that you have to defeat. Awesome.

I don't really know why, but I prefer the first two games in series more and it might be that it always was more fun fighting the humans compared to aliens. The humans had more expressions and a bit of humour  added or just the over the top death animations. The aliens? Just gross looking for the most part. I mean, the first game had enemies flying toward the screen or looking surprised as you arrive and so on. Aliens just shoot and then dies. No, I hope that the second game comes around soon, and I mean 2 and not X. But I'm weird.

Mario Kart 8: Deluxe

It's Mario Kart 8... again!

The first "remake" for the system and it's Mario Kart 8. I already wrote about it and there isn't much more to add. It's really the same game, but all the dlc packed in from the start. And what do you know, it is more fun with more people. Me and two of my sisters played the game and it was the most fun I had with this game. Especially fun that 3-players could play the cup since back in the Nintendo 64 day it was 2-players. This means I had to get another set of controllers and you guessed it, I got the grey one. A bit expensive aren't they?

So this time around we played the Battle mode and I recall that the original only used the same courses you played normally, but now they actually created 8 specific battle arenas. A fun time overall. Still a hassle to constantly get more coins to unlock different kart parts and then customise a ride when before it was choose the character you like and is divided into three classes. Easy and I don't have to know the stats for each wheel or glider. The only other new thing I can think of is the King Boo character... and maybe the inklings? Can't really check it at the moment. Pity we started to think about Diddy Kong Racing, I never actually finished that game. I'm getting sidetracked aren't I?

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

I got it, the final game in the series!

So I finally got around to it and got the last game in the series. And what a ride. It starts with the Professor, Luke and Emmy being taken to the town of Froenburg where an archeologist professor Sycamore have found a living mummy and needs the help of the professor. They find the professor near an cryogeneticfrozen girl hidden behind a wall appearing to be ice, but is actually glass. And as soon I see Sycamore I know the twist of the story... he's freaking Descole. A bit tipped off by his butler that I recall from the end of the last game. But as that ending set up, Descole isn't anyone to care about during the game since instead we have the military organisation Targent looking for the remnants of the Azran, a prehistoric civilisation that created futuristic technology but somehow disappeared from the face of the earth, the Atlantis myth pretty much. And that is something I really like. I liked it in Golden Sun, I liked it in Mysterious Cities of Gold and I like it here. It's a staple of fantasy, especially since Tolkien and the Akallabeth.

Professor Sycamore I assume

So they release the girl that don't have any memory so Targent arrives and kidnapps the girl and Layton and Sycamore chase after on "Sycamores" flying machine... this scene and music is amazing. And it's the beginning of the game. Well, Layton and Luke boards Targents ship and rescue the girl as they fall near a town with Azran connections that opens up a chart on where to find five eggs that will lead to the Azran legacy. So your on a world tour. And like in Mysterious Cities of Gold they find ancient artefacts of the Azran and showcases this ancient civilisation. I don't know why, but I really like it. So they find the five eggs, but for some reason one of them have been switched by Targent so they infiltrate Targent's main base. As you climb the tower... like any Layton climatic ending, you confront Bronev, the leader of Targent that tries to pursued Layton to join, but Layton resist because he's Layton and then... Sycamore appears to be Descole and steals the key that was formed by the five eggs... oh no, didn't see that *sarcasm*. They escape and travels to Froenburg and enters the hidden chamber again and there Targent, Descole and Layton have a standoff until... Emmy betrays Layton for her Uncle Bronev... That took me by surprise. No really, that was an interesting twist. Especially since they established her for 3 games and a movie. But that doesn't stop there. Emmy uses Luke as a bargain tool and goes with Bronev which leaves Layton and Descole as the only ones to stop Bronev as they figured out that the Azran Legacy can potentially destroy the world. The rivals find Luke after crossing a chasm and enters a maze with stone guardians. Descole breaks most of them, but one get ready to fire on Luke, but Descole jumps in between and yet another twist is revealed. Descole and Layton are brothers. And Descole is the real Hershel Layton as their parents were kidnapped by Targent and the older brother gave his name to his younger brother as he was adopted by his foster family that was introduced in the other 3DS game.

Best scene in the game, the attack of the flying machines

And that is not all. Apparently Bronev is their real father that went insane due to losing his wife and somehow climbed to the top of Targent. Layton and Luke continues and confront Bronev and Emmy at the top of the tower, but are unable to stop Bronev to put the girl in a sacrificial machine and, even if he hesitates for a moment, stabs a dagger in her heart. This actives the girls real function as the last created Golem of the Azran civilisation that went under due to giving the Golem sentient and still treat them as slaves so they revolted and crushed the Azran civilisation that in their final act locked the Golems away with the safeguards Layton traveled around to find. This is pretty much like the first season of the Mysterious Cities of Gold. Of course what they need to do is stop the machines heart by blocking the light it emits to some crystals. Layton, Emmy and Luke steps up to the task and even Descole appears again. But there is five lights and the girl can't enter the light due to being a golem so Bronev atones for his sin as all he believed in has proven false so he enters the light and stops the machine. The girl dissolves as she has fulfilled her purpose and Grosky apprehends Bronev as he have been chasing Targent all over the game. Meanwhile Chelmey was on a honeymoon toghether with his wife. A clever way to have him in the game while not interacting with Layton who he doesn't meet until Pandora's Box. The game ends with pretty much Emmy saying her farewell as she need to get away and the ending sequence is Layton and Luke travelling to a little town to solve an inheritance dispute which is the start of the very first game, the Mysterious Village. A really fun way to end the series and tie it together with all the games. Of course one point I thought that the game hinted toward the spider machine in the Unbound Future episode, but maybe it was mentioning the Spectre's Call. I was a bit disappointed in that it was rather short on the puzzle side. Really, apparently only 150 puzzles and they weren't that hard to find either. It says I got 149, but I don't know if it doesn't count the final game ending puzzle or not. Well, can't wait until Lady Layton releases.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

So where is Wonderboy/girl?

When the original came for the Wii Virtual Console I thought about giving this series a chance, especially after Monster World IV that arrived for the first time to Europe through the digital downloads, but I never got around to it since there was the point of choosing which version to get, which was a blessing in disguise since I got to get the enhanced remake instead. And it is beautiful. I really dig the art style, but if you more into the retro look, just push a button and it goes into the 8-bit original. It's always fun when you do that and can see the artist "real" intention compared to the limitations of the systems of the time. Story is that Wonderboy (or Wondergirl which I guess is a new addition for this version) is about to end the mechadragon, the final enemy of the last game and battles their way to the end of the castle and confront the dragon. After an intense battle the dragon is defeated, but defeating it unleashes a curse upon our hero that turns him/her unto a lizard. You escape the collapsing castle and later have to set out on a new adventure to free yourself from the curse.

There they all are!

Simple premise. You use the lizard to find another dragon that turns you into a mouse that can walk on walls and ceilings. Find yet another dragon to turn into a pirahna-man that can swim. Defeat the next dragon and turn into a lion-man. Repeat the dragon slaying and turn into a hawk-man that allows you to fly into the castle in the sky and fight the last dragon that turns you into a human again and then... the game ends. A bit anticlimactic I gotta say. Overall the game have its highs and lows. It was really enjoyable at times figuring out where to go and find the hidden doors or areas to get another heart or gold to buy new equipment. But some things really irritated me. The character is slippy, it feels like I'm gliding around when jumping or running and that gets me when certain areas really need precision jumping, doesn't help by throwing in certain characters gimmicks like the mouse climbing. Also, the enemies are a pain to hit with certain characters and not until the lion-man did I feel comfortable fighting against them. And don't get me started with the damn weapons and special armours that doesn't explain what they do so I have to guess what the Tsumarusa blade or what's it called actually does. Or that the lucky sword increase the amount of gold I get from defeating enemies when that is equipped.

Is that... is that the mouse transformation? How can you tell that it is a mouse?

Also the music... it isn't much of it. You can change from the remake music or the retro feeling by pressing down  the control stick. Is it like 4-5 tracks on the whole game? The dungeons all seems to have the same music? Also, I got lost once, mostly because I forgot that I hadn't searched the sea with the piranha-man and actually had to replay the game to get that I missed it... on easy as a girl... not because girl must be an easy mode, but since I played the boy on normal I wanted to see what the girl was like and I choose easy and actually finished the game with her. Funny enough each time I died the game told me to go see the pig fortune teller and all he did was to refer me to different animal transformations so I don't get what that was about. Overall a fun game and I'm rather excited for the new game Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.

Kamiko

I can't really put my finger on it, but it looks familiar

As being a fan of the Fairune series on the 3DS for its short adventure/puzzle gameplay I couldn't resist picking this up for the Switch as it is made by the same developers. And for a short puzzle/adventure it satisfied me enough. You choose one of three possible characters that differs in ways of attack. The blue one in the picture uses a sword, a green one uses a bow and another one uses some hybrid weapon. The differences in weapons create different game styles as the blue one you must attack constantly and keep up combos while avoiding getting your swings caught on a wall. You go around solving some easier puzzles, where the most trouble is actually carry some "keys" while avoiding taking damage and dropping the "key"and have to restart the procedure. And it pretty much looks the same as Fairune, both enemies and settings are pretty much recycled. Gotta say Fairune is more in my taste, but that is also because this game emphasis repeating the game over and over again to get a better score and I might do it for a while, but I'm more for a story and even if it wasn't much of it in Fairune it was way more than this. Doesn't help that compared to Fairune's integrated whole world, Kamiko is built up by stages. The music is good, but I rather started expect if from these people. Maybe would get more out of it if I hadn't so many other games to play.

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King 3DS

It's finally here!

I already gone through what I thought of the story back in 2012 when I played the PS2 original. Reading through the cliff notes I wrote back then I still feel the same 5 years later. The story is cliched, but it is so well executed. Without problem I spent upwards 100 hours on this game... again. I even enjoyed the grinding for tokens, gold and exp which are the time sinks, but I found the improvements in this game made it even more fun. A difference from the original is that you actually sees the monster on the maps and therefor really can make the grinds more effective. Hunting gold? Travel to Neos and run after the gold golems and don't bother with any other monster. Exp? First grinding spot is the ruined abbey for metal slimes, than Trodain Castle for Liquid Metal Slimes and lastly Dragon Graveyard for the Metal King Slimes. The tokens is still a grind of save when winning, reset when losing, but it felt faster... maybe due to them allowing one to speed up that segment. No joke, I grinded my character so high that they went above level 80 before beating the final boss for the first time, then rolling over the extra bosses I didn't stand a chance against back in 2012 so I even got the special ending.

Everones here... even those who weren't in the original

So what's new beside non-random encounters? Well, as the picture show you got 2 "new" characters, the lady smuggler Red who is an old friend of Yangus and Morrie, the owner of the MONSTROUS PIT... I mean Monster Arena. And it's not until you get them that I realised they gotta have made new voiced dialogue since I couldn't tell until then since I thought it was the same voice cast which is true, except for Jessica and I can't hear that unless I play the clips side by side. There is certain changes in the story as well. One I noticed on my own which is the cutscene where David is forced by his master to eat dog-food. They cut that and instead makes the dog intimidate him. The other I couldn't recall and found when researching on the differences and that is Marcello stabbing himself when the staff of Trodain tried to possess him. In this version he uses magic as the final act. Then they added things like a short scene with Medea meeting the main character and Dhoulmagus killing master Rhylus and an extra dungeon where you fight a boss battle with... Othello as it says on the screen. I actually have problem seeing what's new and whats old. They also made it possible to marry Jessica at the end, I don't know how and I feel that the story is so nice toward the main pairing I have a hard time changing that. Although Jessica is the better looking one, and as King Clavius says, she got the Va-Va-Voom.

I really gotta get Dragon Quest Heroes

I know some people complained on the small censuring on certain costumes and so, but I stumbled upon mentioning that it could be due to changes in what the rating allowed if it's gonna keep the same as last time. I don't really care about it. Other changes was a change in colours as it's more brighter and not as detailed, but it doesn't look as washed out in the screenshots I've watched. Then we have the alchemy recipes. Someone else mentioned what I suspected, they changed what the recipes are. The original did force you to guess certain ingredients based on a little in hint while here it states every single ingredient. I don't know if I like it or not. Overall it's still the best Dragon Quest game and playing it again I couldn't stop and the further I played the more I couldn't stop thinking about it. This might be one of those games I just have to play again and again due to being one of the easiest to grasp as well as the most player friendly. Really, knowing which skills is necessary after 2 playthroughs made it much easier when grinding. For example spears trumps swords even though sword usually are the hero's weapon (due to have a critical hit attack that you really need against metal king slimes so maybe it would be a good low-level run to not use spears, but swords?).

I can't stop loving the accent!

What isn't that great? First of the camera controls doesn't work that well. It's probably due to the New 3DS plastic pin feeling rather wonky. Then there was some glitches like liquid slimes clipping through the floor at one part of Trodain Castle. Also, even when I can see how many skill points unlock which ability, there's no description showing why "Zoom" is a must for a newcomer, being the series teleport spell. Also, the voice acting of Angelo still grates on me when he almost whispers his line, but when he actually puts emotion behind his words I can feel it. I also think I become more used to it since it's the same voice as Alvis from Xenoblade Chronicles. I think I heard Dixons voice character as well. Also two points in the story really confused me over the direction I was supposed to go. One was the Pirate cave which I knew I was supposed to find and it gave me a memory from when I played the game the first time. They never tell you there's a cave there? Or is Red supposed to tell you since she ends up there as well? But why would I go look for Red? Then it was hunting down the flying Leopold. I didn't recall anywhere where to find the dark leaf to find him? I wondered around the Lord High Priest place for a while until I remember that I picked it up by accident since I don't think anyone actually told you about it and the only reason I ended up there was gaining the power of flight and being able to go to this isolated town. Mostly nitpicks and still an enjoyable game. So lets see what I have in my backlog... boy, still a lot of RPG:s to go. Better get grinding.

I Am Setsuna

More like "I am Yuna"

So I picked this up at launch for Switch since it was an RPG and I'm a sucker for these... and it's published by SquareEnix, how can I not try it out? And after playing it and reading up on things around it I just felt empty. People compared it to Chrono Trigger and I've already written down what I thought about that game... twice! I can see it, but at the same time I actually don't see it. It's an JRPG, you can walk around with your characters on the screen like Chrono and it has a time travel plot... but  in reality this is a reworking of different Final Fantasy-plots in a different setting. Don't believe me? The girl Setsuna in the title is a sacrifice that you were sent out to assassinate but ended up protecting to the end. You know, like Yuna from Final Fantasy X, but there it was a twist in the story. Here it's told from the start. Oh yeah, you play as Endir, a member of a clan of mercenaries. And for some reason I would like to say Cecil from Final Fantasy IV in his dark knight phase. But with Squall's behaviour. And I can get behind that I'm escorting someone I'm supposed to kill, but the game doesn't tell a great character story to really show it. First of they give you the possibility to choose certain actions, the problem is that they are either morale high ground or low ground. And the answers doesn't actually effect anything. So I tried answer like a tough mercenary in the beginning and thought that the story would make it so Endir would change his way by actions of the others around him or he himself had to do, especially concerning Setsuna which is what I assumed the name of the game showed. But I switched pretty much to goody-two-shoes since the alternative answer was just dark.

It might just be me, but I think he even looks like Cecil

So as per usual you collect several characters during this journey to the Last Lands in order to sacrifice Setsuna. First of is the magician Aetema who serves as Setsuna's bodyguard. Nidr who is pretty much Auron from Final Fantasy X, I mean, a former bodyguard of a sacrifice and the scars over the eyes, and he looks like a ronin/samurai. Kir, some half-human/half-beast magical wonder child which let me think of Eiko from Final Fantasy IX. Julienne, a dragoon princess that gets possessed all the time, like Kain from Final Fantasy IV. Oh and then there is the "hidden" character that admittedly feels more like Chrono Trigger and that is the Reaper character you fought at several points and can join you and uses a scythe. So he's Magus basically. So that's your cast. There is certain interesting facts about them, but as usual it only is given one quest or town and we never learn anything new about the characters.

I gotta say, I really like the artwork

So you have the sacrificial journey that is as stock as ever, the only interesting bit is that Nidr is actually Setsuna's father and the sacrifice he failed to protect was Setsuna's aunt that caused her mother to be the next sacrifice. We never go anywhere with this after resolving Nidr's remorse with a boss battle. Kir is trying to be like his brother by unlocking his magical ability that will shorten his life, but prefers that to go out like a shining flame trying to solve this. His brother that he also wanted to find actually did the same choice, but died before the journey and Kir tried to find him and that would be a nice side-quest... if it wasn't resolved in the town we picked up Kir as we left it. Julienne pretty much the same problem as she is possessed by monster blood, but that is pretty much the next story segment to continue the game. And the reaper kid joins at the end have some things going for him. He is controlled by his master that created him and have a psychic link with him, but he has no emotions since he is a clone. Like Aetema that is a clone of the Time Judge that guards over the great evil sealed away and uses the sacrifices as a power boost to keep the evil at bay. Time Judge is basically Yunalesca, but actually realises that the downward spiral needs to break and reveals the last twist of the game, Setsuna have arrived several times before, but made the choice to sacrifice herself instead of fighting the evil. But each time the seal breaks and the world is doomed so the Time Judge winds back time 10 years to see if Setsuna choose differently. So she is pretty much insane. But small things changes each time and this time is Endir who never shown up before. And Endir was contracted by Cornelius that is Julienne's second in command while she was influenced by monster blood which gives the great evil power over them? I think. Anyway, yadda-yadda, you confront the evil and the truth is that he is an experiment by the destroyed kingdom to regain their magical abilities, but the power went out of control so they confined him and he grew resentful. You beat him and he flees back in time, Endir and Setsuna are the only ones that can follow him through the save ring which in-game is explained as the memories of the former journeys (neat idea, but fails on the premise that Endir only appeared once). They end back at the beginning of the game and confront a more human-like shadow kid. I think one-hit kills him, but I thought it would be like the paladin battle of Final Fantasy IV, just wait and take pity on him. Instead I have to kill him and his soul enters Setsuna that now ask you to kill her, like the first time you met. Why? I don't know, is she afraid she wouldn't be able to sooth his anger? So I agree, the camera pans up, she says thank you and credits roll. Post-credits Endir walks past a lone tree and disappears and Setsuna appears from nowhere, which is the cover of the game.

See, the game is already spoiled for you.

Gameplay wise the game have certain interesting things going for it. It have Active Time Battle like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV and here is some more Chrono Trigger comparisons like the different attacks were the enemies and players are roaming the screen and depending on when and how you attack you can inflict damage on surround enemies or bonuses on players. You equip which abilities or bonus your characters have which you need to synthesis from materials you get from defeating enemies and compared to every other RPG you don't need to pray to the RNG gods, not all the time at least. Defeating enemies certain ways seems to guarantee a certain drop. Use fire or ice attacks, de-buffed or get "exact" kills or overkills. And everything is recorded in a bestiary. Sadly it feels like there is to few different enemies. I think there's like 4-5 different versions of each monster and that is like 10 of them? And the dungeon settings are repeated at least once. Aka 2 mountains to climb, two high-tech dungeons, two ice-caves and so on. All in all a bit short. I think it misses a quarter of the game, defeating the Dark Samara and sending him back in time should unlock the world so you can travel back and get the necessary powers to open the time travel which should be a dungeon where you fight a manifestation of time that sends Endir and Setsuna to  the end of the game. The dungeon should explore the different versions of Setsuna's journey to see the differences and the impact you as Endir have made. But maybe I couldn't have taken the extra dungeon, especially when the second monster of the game is a self-exploding seal that must explode upon defeat giving me Earthbound flashbacks and don't get me started on the meteo throwing T-rexes at the end. Really, the deja vu moments should have been from the start where fatal outcomes in confrontations should have been avoided. Like that Nicolas Cage movie which I never seen beside the trailers. Or the answers you gave continually evolved the way to either good or non-caring. The music is at least good!