Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology

Look, a Chrono Trigger and Zelda combiner!

Originally for the Nintendo DS (and lucky enough I didn't import this one before the remake hit the shelfs even though I saw the original all over amazon). This one I got digital from the get go so I didn't have to wait and such and I probably was able to play it a bit more that way as I always could boot it up. So what is this JRPG? It tells the tale of Stocke, a master spy in the service of Allistel, a state freed from the Granorg Empire by the prophet Noah and they are basically brainwashed cult members. Stocke works for Heiss, the spymaster that one day give him a book, the White Chronicle. Heiss doesn't say what it does, but send him of on a mission together with Marco and Raynie, mercenaries that works for Heiss in his SI-division. The mission goes awry as their contact is killed in the field and the Granorg army's finest knight kills Marco and Raynie. Stocke in despair throws himself into a river to escape the enemy and awakens the White Chronicle that transports him to Historia where the two guardians await him and tells him how he can save his friends and change history. And the rest of the game is jumping between two timelines that splits if Stocke decides to stay in the SI or if he joins his best friend Roach in the military under Roach command and then back and forth to avoid dead ends in history.

That is an interesting concept and like noted reminded me of Chrono Trigger, but Chrono Trigger is more grander in scale and the existential threat of desertification isn't that prevalent compared to Lavos. The desertification that is the cause of the war due to destroying resources and land started a long time ago by this empire that collapsed and I get it was kept under control by the Granorg royal family doing the sacrifice to keep the mana flow balanced. It's mentioned all the time, but you as the hero only indirectly fight off this problem. And it bothers me a bit. Cause in any other game it would go like this that in the end you had to go back to the source of the problem and fight it off, meaning going back in time to the very moment the desert appeared and stop it. Chrono Trigger taught me that. Here it's just a setting for the real villain. And obviously it was Heiss.

I mean, look at the guy.

He got a really interesting story though. He is the brother to the late king Viktor of Granorg (who was a tyrant) and the sacrifice to stabilise the mana. To avoid death he escaped and later killed Viktor and then took care of his nephew that was scheduled to be the next victim after speaking up against his father. Heiss growing tired of the world then sneaked into Allistel and got the position as head of intelligence and then gave his nephew a new name and identity as Stocke the main character and as wielders of the black and white chronicles he hoped Stocke would join him in destroying the world since it was beyond corrupt. Which I agree with. Most people at the top were corrupt (like Hugo, Protea, Selvan, Viktor and Dias) and the people got either brainwashed, lied to or just killed off. Rampant prejudice and racism and everyone focused on the war while the world was on its way to destruction due to resource waste. Meanwhile the hope they had was priming a sibling pair from the Granorg royal family to use one as a sacrifice by killing it and then inhabit the soul of the other that to uphold the mana got their soul back, killing the host for good. I can see why he wanted to kill off the world.

In the end Stocke goes through with the sacrifice since he cared for his comrades and the hope he felt still existed in the world. And it's enjoyable since he was a bit of a loner in the beginning. I actually enjoy all the characters... except maybe Aht. She rubs me the wrong way in her selfishness and keeping important information away from the group since she has a crush on Stocke and believes telling him his real destiny would make her lose him. And in one way it reminds me of Tidus in Final Fantasy 10, but it works better since he actually is able to find another way without sacrificing Yuna (we wont mention that he sacrifices himself instead), Aht never does anything in game to find another solution. And this might be why the desertification plot feels bad, since we don't solve it and therefore must sacrifice the main guy. I don't like that.

Now, being a remake I can say they at least changed the sprites for the still-pictures of the characters just by looking at the pictures on the web. I assume they recorded new voices since they added a new character you can talk to that give you missions to get artefacts and give you some backstory. Other than that, I have no idea since I've never played the original. All in all a good game, but I might not play it again for some time. Might do it on easier mode since there you can just strike enemies before entering combat and kill them instantly. This actually have some Zelda-esque gameplay moments like moving boxes and bombs, blowing rocks up, turning invisible and like that. Fun things.

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, 9 Doors (DS)

Finally, got my hand on the first game in the series

So I finished of the trilogy, just like in the series ending at the beginning. This one I had to import since it was never released in Europe, but thank god for the region free DS and a American copy. As with the other games you start trapped in a room and have to escape and from there you learn that a bomb is within in you and you have 9 hours to find the 9th door that will let you escape. Together on this adventure is nine other people, June, your former classmate/girlfriend. Ace, the cool collected old man. Snake, the blind know it all. Santa, the white haired pretty boy. Clover, the sister of Snake and the girl from the second game. Seven, the amnesiac African-American (I think). Lotus, the walking fan-service and the ninth man... who gets blown up the moment he appears pretty much. You yourself is Jumpei, the only character that have appeared in all three games. And June is Akane that he kept looking for in the sequel and then tried to propose to at the end of the third game. And since playing these out of order I know she was the one responsible for the whole game. I didn't know why until this game though.

So basically it began 9 years prior when Akane, Santa (her brother named Aoi) and Snake had been kidnapped by a pharmaceutical company for illegal experiment in order to find those that could transmorph information between people. Seven was a detective that was able to track them down and trying to save them while Ace was the CEO of the company together with the 9th man who created the experiment. Akane was captured again and by communicating with Jumpei across time and space was able to escape so Aoi and Akane recreated the experiment to get revenge as well as save Akane. Besides these people two other is on the ship as well. Ace right-hand man and the companies financier. Both who met gruesome ends. 

Now, had I gone in blind and went from game to game I might have enjoyed it much more since they really perfected the gameplay. I felt it at times unplayable. You can't jump between scenes, you have to go from the start to the end (you can of course restart any time, but you have to redo the puzzles nevertheless). You can't write down codes or such in game and not a single document is saved in playthroughs. In the end I sat with a walkthrough to redo the rooms I've done the quickest possible way. At least there isn' any game breaking bugs like in the second game. The story works though, although it confuses me a bit in things they hinted in this game and completely dropped in later instalment. For example Alice (the character from the second game) appears here first as hinted to be a mummified woman locked in ice that de-thaws and releases her. And then as stated an important character in the second game and then she is dropped, even though she was a huge deal for two games. And I don't get Lotus character. She really doesn't have any important story element to her and she is the only one that isn't connected or know the other people in the game. I can't help but feel she's there for eye candy.

Looks good for a 40 year old

Apparently she was a mother to two daughters and they were used in the episode 9 years ago. I don't recall the game mentioning that? And she is also born in 1987... that hurts since every other character describe her as an old lady, but she is the same age as I will be when the game takes place in 2027. Well, at least that gives her a connection to the rest of the characters. Another thing that bothers me is that the abilities seems to shift in the other games. In those games the ability you possess enables you to jump between alternate timelines, but it seems more focused on shared information in this game. Certain characters store information in some kind of all-encompassing life force that other people can tap into anywhere and use it to their advantage or being mislead by the people send the information. It could be hinted that the ending with Jumpei saving Akane in the past hints on the larger scope, but it feels like the idea was evolving a bit. And now that is over. Now I got a real itch for a fourth game.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Co-Op)

And my sisters plan to only allow me to play Claire Redfield backfired since I got the gun

And yet again, another Resident Evil Co-Op version. Pretty much the same problem as I described in Resident Evil 5 (Co-Op), the duel screen is terrible. This is were the Wii U solution actually would work better with a separate screen. Now, another problem is that, due to the gameplay mechanic only one have any decent weapons. And that makes Moira Burton rather worthless. Natalia at least can see unseen enemies, but Moira? She hits enemies with a crowbar, but never bring a crowbar to a gunfight.

Now, me and my sister got the bad ending as since as Claire I was a bit quicker to get her to pick up the gun to kill the boss which then leads to Moira die since she wouldn't get past her own phobias. So Natalia is turned into Alex Wesker and since Barry bonded to much to Natalia he can't kill her. Intersting to see. And then the thing that bothered me the most in solo mode. In chapter 2 (I believe it was) you have several invisible enemies when you are Barry and Natalia hiding in a building. I used Natalia to spy two out and then using Barry to kill them. But I always seemed to miss one and then it killed me. Now in co-op I could see the figure in real time... and still it killed me. The thing is that it came from behind. But there was nothing there. We think that the bug actually went through the ceiling since I know it was one there and therefore sneaked up on me. Meaning the game have a bug... and I don't mean the monster bug. That irritates me a bit. 

All in all Resident Evil 5 is funnier in co-op than this game. Unlimited weapons for all is funnier.

Axiom Verge Multiverse Edition (Switch)

I buy to many special editions

So when the news broke of a special edition Axiom Verge for the switch I went for the pre-order directly. I think it was scheduled for November, but it was pushed forward to January/February. And now I finished it again. Pretty much the same game as I already mentioned for the Wii U. Only thing is I gotten better at it. Could be for me watching the extra material in the package. There is a blu-ray dvd with an interview of the creator, a story of the creation of the game and two playthrough's of the game. One by the creator and the other of a speed-runner. And the speed-runner taught me some moves to fight certain irritating bosses. Thanks for that. The rest of the package was a map, an artbook and a soundtrack CD. Great tracks and was actually the one reason I didn't just go digital again. And maybe that the micro-sd card is getting filled up with 20 GB full-release games. Still a great game.

Another thing I missed from my original run was that there was a way to decode the sudran messages. I don't know if I just missed it, but by putting in codes in the password screen it was revealed. With that knowledge I was even able to find a hidden area due to texts appearing when using the decoder gun and by typing it into the password screen a doorway appeared. Neat. One reason for that might be that I didn't have to think what every weapon and ability did since I already knew so instead I could focus on the other things I didn't get. 

Dragon Quest Builders

Build Build Build All Day Long!

I've never played Minecraft. I looked at it through PeanutButterGamers hardcore series and can see the appeal, but since I haven't had a decent computer or a stable internet it haven't been that appealing. And then SquareEnix releases a minecraft clone with Dragon Quest-skin and story mode? I've gotta play it. And play it I did. All four story chapters and a bit of the free all mode. And it was a nice little time. The story mode is about the Builder, the player avatar that is awakened by Rubiss, one of the main gods in Dragon Quest (I think, I haven't played the original 3 games). Rubiss tasks you to rebuild the lands in the wait for the hero to defeat the Dragon Lord. So you aren't technically the hero (like in Dragon Quest V), but you lay the foundation for the hero. And I get that the land is named after regions from the original three games or it might even be the original map. They reference Erdrick, the main hero from the trilogy and so on. Each special battle has the battle music and the spiraling graphics from the RPG at the start. And each enemy looks like the ones in the main series. And why I was probably more interested than in Minecraft, it looks nice.

The story mode continues in that you place a banner that crates a 30*30 square that you can build a small town in which level up with better materials or building certain rooms. A number of villagers appear (I think between 5-9 depending on the chapter) and you get quest like build them certain rooms, get certain materials or something else. That is really fun for someone like me that want a reason for what I do. Helping people works really great. In between there is some battles where you fight of the enemies that attacks your base. The first chapter is building up Caitlin (which I got is an important city in the main series). The second is a swamp where you try to fight of the Hades Condor that have poisoned the lands. The third one is beginning in a desert and learn special engineer things like cannons and a car. Which leads into the fourth chapter where you first need holy water to heal the land and then search for the banner of hope taken by the monsters to rebuild Tantegral Castle. And then gather the three sages in order to create the item that can take you to fight the Dragonlord. And of course getting the best armour and weapons so that you can take the beating. 

And that is the story mode. There is another mode, Terra Incognita, where the main thing is gathering the materials, build whatever you like and show it off for other people in some online mode. And that might be fun... for people with imagination. I played like 5 minutes and realised without the limitation to build a town within the 30*30 square and the villagers to do quest for, my interest dropped. But they have announced a sequel so I might look into that. And it apparently will have multiplayer. 

Now, I might play it again, but it was a bit lacking after the end of the story. But it was fun building the town... or more like fort and fight the boss. I think I got 3-4 levels at the most, but you really have to think to keep the wall secure and get everything in order within that. A problem though when you get exploding bombs in the fourth chapter that can completely destroy your inner rooms, even though the walls is made of obsidian, the toughest material in game (and they can take the blast, but the force goes right through it). Also irritating there isn't a fifth chapter that allows you to make everything you learned in all previous one. For example I can only build roofs in the second chapter and the engineer stuff in chapter 3. Basically chapter 1 and 4 are pretty similar. And the bosses are fun, although you really need to fail once to get how you are supposed to fight them. For example the Hades Condor needs to build ballistas. Well, since he only showed up at the front before the battles I built them there. Guess what, you were supposed to build them pointing backwards in the boss fight. A co-worker told me he actually build a ballista tower in the middle of the town over the flag. I had to destroy the roof of my hospital (which I was very proud of). Still, I had fun.

Resident Evil 5 (co-op)

This game again

So some year ago I finished of Resident Evil 5 and commented on the co-op, now, I played the whole game in co-op-mode together with my younger sister. And it was fun. Especially since we had access to unlimited ammo and all that for shotgun, machine guns and pistols (and unlocked it for a rifle on the way) meaning we just threw out all ammo and blasted at our hearts content. I put us on the normal difficulty and it was easier as two players since it was full control of the characters and not caring about the safety of the other in the same way as one person play. The game still has some bullshit gameplay I've come to realise during a second play-through. First the damn truck in the beginning that kills you more than once as you try to shoot the driver. Hate it. Second the run sequences avoiding the Ouroboros and the rolling stone. Quick-time event insta-death.

And now to the most annoying thing about the local co-op. The split screen is horrendous before you adjust to it. The screen is split in two, but since the widescreen would mess up they shrink each screen and place it diagonally of each others. Now, since we played it at my parents place we used their TV. And it isn't small, but goddammit, it was still hard for us to see. And no way to adjust after your own liking. 

So all in all, it has diminished somewhat, but playing with a partner makes it enjoyable on a completely different level. Maybe we should try hard mode with the acquired gatling gun. And I would gladly play it on Switch  together with Resident Evil 0, 1, 2, 3, Code:Veronica and 4. Maybe 6 if they give me local co-op.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

The sequel... that is the third game in the series?

144 hours. It took me 144 to finish the main story. I could have done it some 10 hours earlier, but the game threw me for a loop when I was at level 77 and the last boss at 70. So since he killed me at full health with one attack I grinded to level 86... and got my ass handed to me again. So I looked it up and it is of course a puzzle boss where you have to use the special chain attack. Which I got the hang of around hour 100, thank god for that, otherwise this fight would have been horrible. But other than that, it was good.

So story is that you play as Rex, a kid salvager that gets hired by this group of drivers to get a ship in the cloud sea. A driver is someone controlling a blade which enhances attacks and is personified weapon pretty much. While on the ship you find a sealed blade which turns out to be the aegis, a legendary blade that came from the top of the world tree that the great hero Addam used 500 years ago to defeat Malos the evil blade bent on world destruction. The battle destroyed two of the great titans which is what the people of the worlds live on. Rex opens the seal and is killed by Jin, one of his employers and apparently they are Torna, a terrorist organisation that hunts for blades, named after one of the fallen titans. As he died Rex appears at a place called Elysium together with a red-haired girl named Pyra, the same girl that was the aegis. She will bring him back to life if he promises to take her to Elysium in the real world, since this seems to be a dream state from her memories. He comes to life, save Pyra from Torna and escapes on his "grandfather" titan together with the gormotti girl Nia and her blade Dromarch who couldn't stand Tornas bloodshed and defected. They end up on Gormott which is occupied by the Mor Ardainian empire that looks for land due to their titan slowly dying, which causes frictions with the kingdom of Uraya. Meanwhile Indol, a Vatican like organisation, tries to balance them. In Gormott they are hunted by the imperial soldiers and the Grand Inquisitor Morag, older sister to the boy emperor, who later joins them together with the nopon inventor Tora that created the artificial blade Poppi. The last member is Zeke, prince of Tantal, an isoloationist nation. Their goal is to reach Elysium through the World Tree.

Look at the view!

Now, the gameplay is pretty much the same as the other Xenoblades, but with the blades system. Blades have different weapons that you can switch around mostly like you want. Most blades are the same different rotaation of character models, but there are unique once you can get, either by random chance or through story/side-quest. Good and bad, I like when it happens and in theory can make every playthrough uniqe depending on which blades you get since you mostly will use the special once if you can since it's more important to level them up. And that's the problem since certain quest you need the right amount of skills that only the special blades have, and it gets annoying when you need to grind for them to get them. Especially when the bonding scene takes forever (until they apparently patch it away in a week, which is to late for me). Good music when you get them as well. Most music is rather good, and I got the soundtrack with the special edition.

Love the package, but it's huge!

Now, the story is basically get to the finish line. At a point near the end I actually didn't know who the bad guy was. Not that there were candidates, but I understood all their decisions. Torna is led by Jin and Malos, Jin being a flesh eater (cannibal blade) who ate his driver as the last act as she was dying to not be returned to the core crystal and loose the memory of her as Torna was being destroyed by Indol led by Amalthus. Malos is the aegis Amalthus stole from the architect that is the god of this universe and share Amalthus lust to destroy the world, but the reason Amalthus believes that is because his mother was killed as she protected him from slavers (?). So Malos isn't really responsible for his actions since he is influenced by Amalthus. I feel sorry for them. You get to see the other Torna members as outcast since they are flesh eaters and shuned by society and even though they instigate conflicts and destruction, I can't fault them. The world is shitty. And don't get me started on the political subtext. Indol houses a refugee camp from the conflicts around Alrest (mostly between Mor Ardain and Uraya that is getting closer to war), but at the same time Indol is the ones supplying core crystals to the nations and registers every owner perpetuating the cycle of conflict. And therefore easies their conscious with providing the camp, but complaining that it defiles the square they set up. Was someone saying the refugee crisis of 2015 and onward? It's f***ing brilliant! It's clearly the western world taking in the refugees and still selling weapons to the waring nations of the world and it furthers conflict between those living near the refugees camp in the western world. Now, it's a bit more complicated in the real world, but a short summery it works brilliantly.

This tipped me of he wasn't the nicest pope

In the end you fall below the cloud sea and sees the destroyed landscape of a modern city and climbs the world tree which is really a space elevator to a satellite in space which explains the aegis ability to conjure laser blast from up high. And here was probably the most interesting twist I ever encountered. And it's because it's the same twist as from the first game. Not the kind, but the same exact twist. We get a flashback to the war that destroyed the world below the cloud sea up in the satellite that tries to be the last line of defence, but two scientist argues over some artefact. It's Klaus and Galeia, the people that became the two titans in the first game. The twist is that this is a post-apocalyptic earth, but Xenoblade 1 took place in a splintered timeline which is connected through a black hole that eats half of the Architects body, the architect being Klaus, the bad guy from the first game that feels the end of his evil side as Shulk and the others at this very moment have arrived to kill him, killing both, and he accept this due to the remorse of causing all this. My mind is blown. It doesn't make a lick of sense for someone that haven't played the first game, but for me and other that played it's huge. And he isn't even a boss, the final boss is Malos in a giant mech that is about to destroy all of Alrest. You blew him up and then of course the satellite is falling apart. Rex and the others escape with an escape pod, but Pyra tricked them to it since she had to stay behind to destroy the world tree so it doesn't crush all of Alrest. But of course she returns at the end like some magical Disney movie. And I'm alright with that.

I don't know why, but I actually prefer X over this. And I felt more invested in the story for a longer time in the original. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game and when the shit hits the fan at the end it's really good, but it felt like it took to long to turn from a run of the mill good vs evil story. The Torna bits should have come long before I feel. Well, better wait for the DLC story content.