Before I say anything else, I'm going to warn you that this review may be a little bit biased. I had been waiting a LONG time for this game to come out and I was eating up any information I could get about it when I first heard about it. So, just to warn you, I'm pretty excited about this game.
Epic Mickey was released December, 2010. You play as Mickey Mouse who had accidentaly destroyed a world that had been created for rejected and forgotten characters. The leader of this world being Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was Walt Disney's first cartoon character until the rights were lost to Universal Studios in 1928. Years after the "ink blot incident" (where Mickey had spilled paint and thinner on to a model of Wasteland, creating the Shadow Blot in the process), Mickey is pulled in to Wasteland by the Shadow Blot, who is in need of Mickey's heart to be able to leave Wasteland. While Mickey is trying to escape Wasteland, he meets Oswald, who blames Mickey for being forgotten and winding up in Wasteland. Because of that, Oswald agrees to help Mickey find a way to escape.
In this game, how you go about defeating enemies effects the end of the game and how others treat you. Mickey uses a magic paintbrush to attack his enemies and you can either use paint thinner, which will kill your enemies, or you can use paint, which will make them your allies. Depending on how you defeat bosses, you will either gain more paint or more thinner. You attack with the paint brush by aiming the Wii remote at the enemy. But, some enemies can only be destroyed with thinner because they aren't influenced by paint.
I love this game; the story is amazing, the gameplay is great, and I love Oswald. Though, I have to admit, I haven't finished the game (I'm so close I can almost taste it. I'm just stuck), I can already recommend this game to everyone. There are a bunch of little miniquests that you can do and can get special prizes for them like concept art and some of the old Mickey cartoons (And a couple Oswald cartoons like my favorite "Oh, What A knight!").
As I've said, I really really enjoy this game and can spend hours trying to find all of the little treats. I think everyone should play this game, even if they don't really think that Mickey games can be interesting.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Sonic Adventure 2 was released originally on the Dreamcast in 2001 and is the sequel to Sonic Adventure. In 2002, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was released for the Gamecube. There are several differences between the versions for the two systems. For one, there are more multi-player battle options and characters to play as, but online playing is removed for the Gamecube version. Some cut-scenes have also been redone for the Gamecube and are slightly faster paced.
The story revolves around Shadow the Hedgehog who was created by Dr. Robotnik's (Eggman) grandfather and was supposed to be the "Ultimate Life Form". Eggman and Shadow form an alliance to destroy the world so that Eggman can finally take over the world.
You play two stories, the Hero and the Dark. In the Hero story you will play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Sonic has running stages where your goal is to get to the end of the stage, trying to get as many rings as you can, and defeating enemies. With Tails, it is more of a shooter style though you still have the same goal of getting rings, defeating enemies, and getting to the goal. Knuckles is a hunting based game where you search for shards of the Master Emerald. The Dark story characters are Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. Shadow's stages are similar to Sonic's, Eggman's similar to Tails, and Rouge similar to Knuckles. Each character also has boss battles. After defeating both stories, you get one last stage in which you play as all the characters and then a final boss battle.
The graphics in this game is A LOT better than the first game. The expressions on the characters aren't as exagerated and the movement isn't as blocky or delayed. I also prefer the stages in this game more than the first. Overall, the voice acting is also a lot better, but itstill has times where it's really cheesey. And I'm not a fan of Rouge's voice. So I'll put it on Japanese voice a lot of the time. But, the thing I like the most? The return of the Chao Gardens. The sequel also has three gardens, like the first, but these are all located next to each other in a different "world". You can also race your chaos against each other, like the first game, and your chao can win prizes like watering cans and shovels. And, there's a new minigame where your chao will fight another in a karate sort of style. Your chao can also go to school and learn how to draw and play instruments. I really enjoy this game and I can spend hours on it. I highly recommend it.
The story revolves around Shadow the Hedgehog who was created by Dr. Robotnik's (Eggman) grandfather and was supposed to be the "Ultimate Life Form". Eggman and Shadow form an alliance to destroy the world so that Eggman can finally take over the world.
You play two stories, the Hero and the Dark. In the Hero story you will play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Sonic has running stages where your goal is to get to the end of the stage, trying to get as many rings as you can, and defeating enemies. With Tails, it is more of a shooter style though you still have the same goal of getting rings, defeating enemies, and getting to the goal. Knuckles is a hunting based game where you search for shards of the Master Emerald. The Dark story characters are Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge. Shadow's stages are similar to Sonic's, Eggman's similar to Tails, and Rouge similar to Knuckles. Each character also has boss battles. After defeating both stories, you get one last stage in which you play as all the characters and then a final boss battle.
The graphics in this game is A LOT better than the first game. The expressions on the characters aren't as exagerated and the movement isn't as blocky or delayed. I also prefer the stages in this game more than the first. Overall, the voice acting is also a lot better, but itstill has times where it's really cheesey. And I'm not a fan of Rouge's voice. So I'll put it on Japanese voice a lot of the time. But, the thing I like the most? The return of the Chao Gardens. The sequel also has three gardens, like the first, but these are all located next to each other in a different "world". You can also race your chaos against each other, like the first game, and your chao can win prizes like watering cans and shovels. And, there's a new minigame where your chao will fight another in a karate sort of style. Your chao can also go to school and learn how to draw and play instruments. I really enjoy this game and I can spend hours on it. I highly recommend it.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
I know I had said that I was going to do my next posts about Lunia, and I should be a good person and keep to it, but I'm a bit sick of playing it at the moment. So, I'm going to pretend that I didn't promise that.
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut was released in 2003 and is an enhanced port for the Gamecube and was originally released in 1998 for the Dreamcast. It is also now available for download for Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network.
In the game, you start out as playing Sonic and you have to stop Eggman from reviving Chaos and taking over the world. Simple enough, it seems. Except that every time Chaos gets a Chaos Emerald (see the connection there???). But, not only do you get to play as Sonic, you also get to play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, and E-102 Gamma as they also try and reach their own goals. Throughout the story, they all go back in time, at least once, and learn a little about Chaos and how he came about through a girl echidna named Tikal.
The voice acting in the game isn't the best. At all. In fact, I had to change it from English to Japanese with English subtitles. And the expressions are over exaggerated. And sometimes the music isn't the best. But the story is good enough. The real reason I play it? Two words: Chao. Gardens.
A Chao is a tiny creature with an teardrop shaped head and a tiny blue body. In the game, there are three gardens that you can unlock where you can raise these creatures. They have stats that you can increase by giving them animals that you collect during the stages. But, when giving an animal that, let's say, increases swimming, it may decrease another stat. The chao will also take on physical traits of the animal, like growing bunny ears or getting a peacock tail. And, when they get older, they can turn in to a neutral chao, hero chao, or dark chao. Though, that depends on how they are treated or what food they are given to eat. But, this part of the game can give me hours of entertainment.
The game itself isn't that long, but you are also able to redo stages and find new things. So, the replay value to this game is pretty high. So, if you don't mind some older graphics and bad voice acting, I'd say try it.
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut was released in 2003 and is an enhanced port for the Gamecube and was originally released in 1998 for the Dreamcast. It is also now available for download for Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network.
In the game, you start out as playing Sonic and you have to stop Eggman from reviving Chaos and taking over the world. Simple enough, it seems. Except that every time Chaos gets a Chaos Emerald (see the connection there???). But, not only do you get to play as Sonic, you also get to play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, and E-102 Gamma as they also try and reach their own goals. Throughout the story, they all go back in time, at least once, and learn a little about Chaos and how he came about through a girl echidna named Tikal.
The voice acting in the game isn't the best. At all. In fact, I had to change it from English to Japanese with English subtitles. And the expressions are over exaggerated. And sometimes the music isn't the best. But the story is good enough. The real reason I play it? Two words: Chao. Gardens.
A Chao is a tiny creature with an teardrop shaped head and a tiny blue body. In the game, there are three gardens that you can unlock where you can raise these creatures. They have stats that you can increase by giving them animals that you collect during the stages. But, when giving an animal that, let's say, increases swimming, it may decrease another stat. The chao will also take on physical traits of the animal, like growing bunny ears or getting a peacock tail. And, when they get older, they can turn in to a neutral chao, hero chao, or dark chao. Though, that depends on how they are treated or what food they are given to eat. But, this part of the game can give me hours of entertainment.
The game itself isn't that long, but you are also able to redo stages and find new things. So, the replay value to this game is pretty high. So, if you don't mind some older graphics and bad voice acting, I'd say try it.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Introduction to Lunia
For the next few posts I'm going to review different aspects of Lunia, which is MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game). But, before I get in to the reviews of the different parts of the game, I'm going to take this blog to give a semi-brief rundown on the game including how it's played and a brief history of the game.
In Lunia, to fight, you go to different stages that have different monster levels, depending on which stage you are on. For example, monsters on stage 1-1 are level one, monsters on 1-2 are level 2, and so on until you get to stage 2-1, where the monsters are then level eleven. After each stage, there is a boss battle and, in order to finish the stage you have to (obviously) defeat the boss. These stages can either be played solo (by yourself) or with a group of four other players. Each episode consists of ten stages except for episode seven, which only has nine stages. In order to level up, you have to accept quests for each stage which also will show you a small "movie" that explains the plot, why you're there, etc. Besides the stages, there are also bonus stages that you can unlock using keys that you get when leveling up and myth stages, which you can only get to after rebirthing at least once and accepting a certain quest once you're level seventy. Rebirthing is pretty much getting to level 70 or higher and then resetting your skills and level so you're back at one, but it also increases your strength and amount of skill points you get and will cause you to get an accumulative level (which, some items can only be equiped when you get an accumulative level of about 120 or more).
Lunia (full name is Lunia: Record of Lunia War) was created by a Korean company called Allm and was originally released to Noth America by 12FootTall but later changed over Ijji. It's English release was in May 9, 2007 as a closed beta and in July 31, 2007 it was released as an open beta. February 18, 2008 it was released in full on 12FootTall and late rereleased on October 7, 2008 on Ijji.
In Lunia, to fight, you go to different stages that have different monster levels, depending on which stage you are on. For example, monsters on stage 1-1 are level one, monsters on 1-2 are level 2, and so on until you get to stage 2-1, where the monsters are then level eleven. After each stage, there is a boss battle and, in order to finish the stage you have to (obviously) defeat the boss. These stages can either be played solo (by yourself) or with a group of four other players. Each episode consists of ten stages except for episode seven, which only has nine stages. In order to level up, you have to accept quests for each stage which also will show you a small "movie" that explains the plot, why you're there, etc. Besides the stages, there are also bonus stages that you can unlock using keys that you get when leveling up and myth stages, which you can only get to after rebirthing at least once and accepting a certain quest once you're level seventy. Rebirthing is pretty much getting to level 70 or higher and then resetting your skills and level so you're back at one, but it also increases your strength and amount of skill points you get and will cause you to get an accumulative level (which, some items can only be equiped when you get an accumulative level of about 120 or more).
Lunia (full name is Lunia: Record of Lunia War) was created by a Korean company called Allm and was originally released to Noth America by 12FootTall but later changed over Ijji. It's English release was in May 9, 2007 as a closed beta and in July 31, 2007 it was released as an open beta. February 18, 2008 it was released in full on 12FootTall and late rereleased on October 7, 2008 on Ijji.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Haunting Ground
Hauting Ground (known as Demento in Japan) is a game by Capcom for the PS2 back in 2005. You play a woman, Fiona Belli, after she wakes up, caged, in a basement. After escaping from the cage, she is finds that her parents and she were in a car accident and that she is the loner survivor and heir of the Belli Castle. But, it's not just that simple. While there she is chased throughout the castle as she tries to find her way out of the castle, her only friend a white German Shepherd named Hewie. You don't actually attack anyone in the game, but your actual goal when faced with your enemies is to hide from them until they finally leave you alone for a while. Which, even though certain places give you the option to hide, it's not the best idea. For example, an iron maiden. Also, after a while of running, Fiona will get tired and unable to run. And, if she gets too scared, she'll go in to 'panic mode', where the screen turns black and white, the screen shakes and blurs, and Fiona will repeatedly fall as you run. The only time you REALLY fight them is their boss battles, and even then it's just Fiona telling Hewie to attack them while you solve puzzles in order to defeat them.
Fiona Belli is eighteen years old and finds herself at Belli Castle after a car accident with her parents. She carries a life force (I have no idea how else to describe it) called Azoth, which is the reason for her imprisonment. Throughout the game she rarely speaks, preferring to sit in fear and scream for Hewie to help her. In fact, most of the dialouge is one sided, the enemies talking to her and explaining what they want from her and how they plan to get it.
Your first enemy is Debilitas. Though it is never said in the game, most people believe that he is a failed experiment by Riccardo. Though he is very muscular, he has the mind of a child, which is shown by his love for dolls. In fact, he thinks that Fiona is a giant doll and chases after her for a portion of the game until the boss battle, where you have the choice of either killing him or befriending him.
After defeating Debilitas, you are allowed a moment of peace to run around the castle as you please. Well, until you are a door away to freedom and some woman comes up behind you, grabs your hand and preventing you from leaving, to inform you that dinner is ready. This is your next enemy, Daniella. Though, this isn't really your first time meeting her (you see her in the beginning of the game when she shows you your new room and talks to the painting, reassuring it that she'll make sure that Fiona will be comfortable), this is when you start to see how creepy she REALLY is. In the first sit down chat you have with her, she informs you that she can't feel pain, experience pleasure, or taste food. Getting a bit creeped out, Fiona decides that she's done eating and wants to get as far away from Daniella as possible. But, Daniella doesn't seem to like that idea, and decides to wake Fiona up in the middle of the night and tells you that she isn't complete and decides to break a mirror. With her face. From that point on, she chases you around, with either a giant shard of glass or a hot poker, and attempts to take your Azoth, which she believes will 'complete' her. With her, there are a lot less hiding places and she sometimes like to pop out of large cabinets that you were about to hide in. Lucky for you, she hates mirrors and you can temporarily stop her from chasing you by uncovering a mirror and let her take a good look at herself. But, seeing as Daniella is the maid of the castle, there are times where you will find her cleaning and, if you go up to talk to her, she will tell you that she's busy at the moment and can talk to you later. She has a life outside of chasing you around, too. I hope that you can tell by how much detail I put in to this how scary she it (and how she's my favorite out of all the people you meet).
After defeating Daniella, you get to meet the most annoying enemy in the game, at least in my opinion, Riccardo. His intention is to get your Azoth in order to be reborn, having lacked an Azoth when he was created. Therefore, he has no intention of killing you like the other two (though, Debilitas never really wanted to kill you. He just didn't know his own strength.). Instead, Riccardo prefers kicking Fiona, slapping Fiona, and scary her by firing his gun in the air. He also likes to shoot Hewie, which can actually kill the dog, in which case you are alone, and will sometimes accidentally shoot you if he gets to wound up in the game of chase. The most annoying part of this enemy? Later on he injects you with something that messes with your vision and makes it so you can't see him. The only way to know he's coming is the change in music or Hewie growling, and even then you can't really find out if he's in the room yet or not.
(There would be a picture here, but it wouldn't work for me. :/ )
The last enemy you meet is Lorenzo, which he's pretty much two enemies with the same name. He's actually your grandfather, but he's not very loving as a family member. His goal is to gain immortality and, in order to achieve that, he needs your Azoth. Luckily, the first time you meet him, he's old and in a wheelchair. He's so excited to finally meet you (and that he's that much closer to immortality) he falls out of the wheelchair and chases you around by crawling, which means you can just kick him in the face to make him let go of you. But, somehow, after you think you killed him, he comes back and is now like, fifty years younger. And he has some super powers.
For me, this game took about eight hours if you know what you're doing. Also, this game incorporates Alchemy and you can make some pretty nice things, like earrings that turn you invisible if you stand still for long enough. Even though you can't really fight (unless you have the cowgirl outfit with the gun), it's still a pretty awesome game, even if it is short.
(All images are copyrighted by Capcom.)
Fiona Belli is eighteen years old and finds herself at Belli Castle after a car accident with her parents. She carries a life force (I have no idea how else to describe it) called Azoth, which is the reason for her imprisonment. Throughout the game she rarely speaks, preferring to sit in fear and scream for Hewie to help her. In fact, most of the dialouge is one sided, the enemies talking to her and explaining what they want from her and how they plan to get it.
Your first enemy is Debilitas. Though it is never said in the game, most people believe that he is a failed experiment by Riccardo. Though he is very muscular, he has the mind of a child, which is shown by his love for dolls. In fact, he thinks that Fiona is a giant doll and chases after her for a portion of the game until the boss battle, where you have the choice of either killing him or befriending him.
(Yes, that is a giant shard of glass she's licking.)
After defeating Debilitas, you are allowed a moment of peace to run around the castle as you please. Well, until you are a door away to freedom and some woman comes up behind you, grabs your hand and preventing you from leaving, to inform you that dinner is ready. This is your next enemy, Daniella. Though, this isn't really your first time meeting her (you see her in the beginning of the game when she shows you your new room and talks to the painting, reassuring it that she'll make sure that Fiona will be comfortable), this is when you start to see how creepy she REALLY is. In the first sit down chat you have with her, she informs you that she can't feel pain, experience pleasure, or taste food. Getting a bit creeped out, Fiona decides that she's done eating and wants to get as far away from Daniella as possible. But, Daniella doesn't seem to like that idea, and decides to wake Fiona up in the middle of the night and tells you that she isn't complete and decides to break a mirror. With her face. From that point on, she chases you around, with either a giant shard of glass or a hot poker, and attempts to take your Azoth, which she believes will 'complete' her. With her, there are a lot less hiding places and she sometimes like to pop out of large cabinets that you were about to hide in. Lucky for you, she hates mirrors and you can temporarily stop her from chasing you by uncovering a mirror and let her take a good look at herself. But, seeing as Daniella is the maid of the castle, there are times where you will find her cleaning and, if you go up to talk to her, she will tell you that she's busy at the moment and can talk to you later. She has a life outside of chasing you around, too. I hope that you can tell by how much detail I put in to this how scary she it (and how she's my favorite out of all the people you meet).
After defeating Daniella, you get to meet the most annoying enemy in the game, at least in my opinion, Riccardo. His intention is to get your Azoth in order to be reborn, having lacked an Azoth when he was created. Therefore, he has no intention of killing you like the other two (though, Debilitas never really wanted to kill you. He just didn't know his own strength.). Instead, Riccardo prefers kicking Fiona, slapping Fiona, and scary her by firing his gun in the air. He also likes to shoot Hewie, which can actually kill the dog, in which case you are alone, and will sometimes accidentally shoot you if he gets to wound up in the game of chase. The most annoying part of this enemy? Later on he injects you with something that messes with your vision and makes it so you can't see him. The only way to know he's coming is the change in music or Hewie growling, and even then you can't really find out if he's in the room yet or not.
(There would be a picture here, but it wouldn't work for me. :/ )
The last enemy you meet is Lorenzo, which he's pretty much two enemies with the same name. He's actually your grandfather, but he's not very loving as a family member. His goal is to gain immortality and, in order to achieve that, he needs your Azoth. Luckily, the first time you meet him, he's old and in a wheelchair. He's so excited to finally meet you (and that he's that much closer to immortality) he falls out of the wheelchair and chases you around by crawling, which means you can just kick him in the face to make him let go of you. But, somehow, after you think you killed him, he comes back and is now like, fifty years younger. And he has some super powers.
For me, this game took about eight hours if you know what you're doing. Also, this game incorporates Alchemy and you can make some pretty nice things, like earrings that turn you invisible if you stand still for long enough. Even though you can't really fight (unless you have the cowgirl outfit with the gun), it's still a pretty awesome game, even if it is short.
(All images are copyrighted by Capcom.)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of the Abyss was the first of the Tales of Series that I played. It is about a young man named Luke fon Fabre, the son of a duke, who had been kidnapped from his home seven years earlier. Because of this, his parents are over protective and confined him within the palace. One day, a mysterious woman shows up at the palace and a hyperresonance that teleports them to a whole new counrty. The woman, Tear, explains to him that she had not meant for this to happen but was actually there to kill her brother, Van, who was the head of the Six God-Generals. Tear decides to help return Luke to his home but, along the way, find a conspiracy unravel before them that began seven years ago, when Luke was kidnapped.
The main character, Luke fon Fabre is very ignorant when it comes to the workings of the world around him and it causes him to be very selfish. In the first part of the game, he complains a lot and often doesn't try to spare the feelings of others.
Tear Grant is the first character to join your party. She is very strict and is always trying to push forward though, it is discovered, has a weakness to cute things. Luke and she are the games official couple.
Anise Tatlin is Fon Master Ion's guardian and is the second to join your party. She is very money hungry for the fact that her parents live in constant poverty from following the teachings of the Score, which is a written document that predicts the future. In the begining of the game she hits on Luke once she finds out he is royalty.
Jade Curtiss is the colonel for the Malkuth Empire and is also the creator of fomicry, which is a science for developing replicas (or clones). He is hightly sarcastic and honest and, at the same time, very logical.
Guy Cecil is Luke's first friend and is also a servant of the House of Fabre. He has a fear of women and freaks out whenever he is touched by one or too close.
Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear is Luke's fiancee (and also his cousin). She repeatedly scolds Luke for his selfishness and spoiled attitude.
Other characters, who are nonplayable but appear a lot in the game, are Van Grant ,who is Tear's brother, Fon Master Ion, who is the leader of the Order of Lorelei, and the Six God-Generals: Arietta the Wild, Dist the Reaper, Asch the Bloody, Legretta the Quick, Sync the Tempest, and Largo the Black Lion.
Seeing as this was my first Tales game, it's hard to think of bad points. One thing that's dissapointing is that the skits aren't voiced like they are in the Japanese version. Also, when the characters get angry, they tend to go cross-eyed. But that's also one of the things I like about the game because it makes me laugh.
Now, for my favorite parts of the game. To me, this Tales game has a different atmosphere than the others and I like that about this game. The relationship between the characters is well put together (especially when you find out some of the characters backstories.) The battle system is great (though, at times the CPU doesn't like to help, so that could be posted as a negative.) It also has my favorite secret boss ever: the replica of Jade's teacher, Nebilim. She's also the hardest boss of the entire game so, if you can beat her, the end boss will be a piece of cake.
Just look at her! Not only does she have an amazing outfit, she also knows every attack that you know and she doesn't mind using them against you. Out of all game bosses, she's my favorite. Her goal in life is to learn all fonic artes, not because she wants to destroy the world or any goal like that, but because she can.
Obviously, you can tell that I'd recomend this game to everyone. It has a great story and the characters are protrayed nicely.
(Copyrighted by Namco)
(Copyrighted by Namco)
(Copyrighted by Namco)
Anise Tatlin is Fon Master Ion's guardian and is the second to join your party. She is very money hungry for the fact that her parents live in constant poverty from following the teachings of the Score, which is a written document that predicts the future. In the begining of the game she hits on Luke once she finds out he is royalty.
(Coprighted by Namco)
Jade Curtiss is the colonel for the Malkuth Empire and is also the creator of fomicry, which is a science for developing replicas (or clones). He is hightly sarcastic and honest and, at the same time, very logical.
(Coprighted by Namco)
Guy Cecil is Luke's first friend and is also a servant of the House of Fabre. He has a fear of women and freaks out whenever he is touched by one or too close.
(Copyrighted by Namco)
Other characters, who are nonplayable but appear a lot in the game, are Van Grant ,who is Tear's brother, Fon Master Ion, who is the leader of the Order of Lorelei, and the Six God-Generals: Arietta the Wild, Dist the Reaper, Asch the Bloody, Legretta the Quick, Sync the Tempest, and Largo the Black Lion.
(Seriously. This is all from Namco.)
And, of course, no one can forget Mieu and the love/hate relationship between him and Luke.Seeing as this was my first Tales game, it's hard to think of bad points. One thing that's dissapointing is that the skits aren't voiced like they are in the Japanese version. Also, when the characters get angry, they tend to go cross-eyed. But that's also one of the things I like about the game because it makes me laugh.
Now, for my favorite parts of the game. To me, this Tales game has a different atmosphere than the others and I like that about this game. The relationship between the characters is well put together (especially when you find out some of the characters backstories.) The battle system is great (though, at times the CPU doesn't like to help, so that could be posted as a negative.) It also has my favorite secret boss ever: the replica of Jade's teacher, Nebilim. She's also the hardest boss of the entire game so, if you can beat her, the end boss will be a piece of cake.
Obviously, you can tell that I'd recomend this game to everyone. It has a great story and the characters are protrayed nicely.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World for the Wii (known as Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk in Japan) takes place two years after the first Symphonia games. The lands of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were combined at the end of the world regeneration. The Tethe'allans look down on the Sylvaranti because of their lack of centeral government. The Vanguard protects the people of Sylvarant but, any town that is associated with them are destroyed by the Church of Martel, which is run by Lloyd Irving. Not only are the inhabitants of the once seperated worlds clashing with one another, the weather balance has shifted. In lands that were once deserts are now covered in snow while snow is melting in the once colder regions. And the cause of these climate? Dormant centurions, which control elemental based monsters and, in order to return the world to normal, the lord of all centurions, lord Ratatosk, must be awaken.
The main character is a young boy, Emil Castagnier, who, after his parents dying in the Palmacosta purge, moves to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle. The people in town blame him for the problems they are facing, which leaves him frightened and soft spoken. Until he meets Richter, a mysterious man that Emil later refers back to whenever he is faced with a major decision. He meets a girl named Marta Lualdi who is carrying Ratatosk's care on her forehead and is on the run from both the Church of Martel and the Vanguard. He forms a pact with the centurion of darkness, Tenebrae, in order to save Marta from Richter, who is trying to get the core from her. Together, Emil and Marta go on a journey to revive the centurions and awaken Ratatosk, hoping to restore the world to it's natural state.
Though most critics hate this game, I really enjoy it. The graphic are good if you take in to consideration that it is for the Wii. Also, the new characters are really deep and it's always nice to see the characters from the previous game (and you can even play as them too). Emil goes through amazing character development and, in the end, learns how to stick up for himself. Tenebrae likes to make fun of people or start fights, which always end out humorus. And Marta... well, likes to devote her time and making Emil fall in love with her. My favorite character is Lady Alice who is in charge of the Vanguard's combat unit. At first glance, she seems like a sweet, innocent girl but she is later revealed to be quite sadistic and will use anyone to get what she wants (even Decus, who constantly confesses his love for her only to be shot down). Also, the battle music is really good (this blogger really like's the battle theme for Alice). And the plot has some sweet, hearfelt moments. And, in this game, you can capture monsters to fight with you.
There are a few bad points to the game, I'll admit. For one, they only kept two of the original voice actors from the first game: Colette and Kratos. Though, Zelos' new voice sounds amazingly similar to his original, some of the others don't (especially Lloyd's). Also, there isn't a world map, so you're unable to blindly walk around to level. Instead, you are given quests which sometimes don't really help and are time consuming. The worst part though is that the only people you can level are Emil and Marta, seeing as the others leave your party and come back, gaining levels whenever they return. In the end, Emil and Marta can get up to level 250 while the rest of your party are stuck at level 50. The only way you can play as characters other then Emil and Marta is by changing it whenever you get in battle. But, once in a new battle, it will return to its original settings. And the equipment for those other members also can't be changed. Another down side is that there aren't any new places to visit and, in fact, all the centurion cores are in the temples you visited in the first game.
But, over all, I loved this game. Even though many reviews give this game a low rating, it's still worth playing if you loved the first game.
The main character is a young boy, Emil Castagnier, who, after his parents dying in the Palmacosta purge, moves to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle. The people in town blame him for the problems they are facing, which leaves him frightened and soft spoken. Until he meets Richter, a mysterious man that Emil later refers back to whenever he is faced with a major decision. He meets a girl named Marta Lualdi who is carrying Ratatosk's care on her forehead and is on the run from both the Church of Martel and the Vanguard. He forms a pact with the centurion of darkness, Tenebrae, in order to save Marta from Richter, who is trying to get the core from her. Together, Emil and Marta go on a journey to revive the centurions and awaken Ratatosk, hoping to restore the world to it's natural state.
Though most critics hate this game, I really enjoy it. The graphic are good if you take in to consideration that it is for the Wii. Also, the new characters are really deep and it's always nice to see the characters from the previous game (and you can even play as them too). Emil goes through amazing character development and, in the end, learns how to stick up for himself. Tenebrae likes to make fun of people or start fights, which always end out humorus. And Marta... well, likes to devote her time and making Emil fall in love with her. My favorite character is Lady Alice who is in charge of the Vanguard's combat unit. At first glance, she seems like a sweet, innocent girl but she is later revealed to be quite sadistic and will use anyone to get what she wants (even Decus, who constantly confesses his love for her only to be shot down). Also, the battle music is really good (this blogger really like's the battle theme for Alice). And the plot has some sweet, hearfelt moments. And, in this game, you can capture monsters to fight with you.
There are a few bad points to the game, I'll admit. For one, they only kept two of the original voice actors from the first game: Colette and Kratos. Though, Zelos' new voice sounds amazingly similar to his original, some of the others don't (especially Lloyd's). Also, there isn't a world map, so you're unable to blindly walk around to level. Instead, you are given quests which sometimes don't really help and are time consuming. The worst part though is that the only people you can level are Emil and Marta, seeing as the others leave your party and come back, gaining levels whenever they return. In the end, Emil and Marta can get up to level 250 while the rest of your party are stuck at level 50. The only way you can play as characters other then Emil and Marta is by changing it whenever you get in battle. But, once in a new battle, it will return to its original settings. And the equipment for those other members also can't be changed. Another down side is that there aren't any new places to visit and, in fact, all the centurion cores are in the temples you visited in the first game.
But, over all, I loved this game. Even though many reviews give this game a low rating, it's still worth playing if you loved the first game.
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