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Thread: WK's Top something or other... let's just say "games" and call it good list.

  1. #91
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    70.This post will reference two previous posts: Contra 3 and Mystic Warriors. Remember how I loved Contra 3 because it was the closest thing on the console to a true Aliens game? Remember how I mentioned that Konami used to be Kings of the Beat'em Up" arcade scene? Well here we are to those two ideas coming together. Aliens is a side-scrolling shooter/beat'em up for arcade, based on the popular Aliens sequel by James Cameron. You play as a very pixelated Ripley or Hicks and play a much goier fare than the film version. The game very loosely follows the plot and mostly focuses on the concept of the marines being here to get rid of a xenomorph infestation. Like the comic adaptions, toyline, and later films; Aliens makes use of the idea that there are more types of aliens than one would think which helps build better variety.You get an assortment of weapons including the starting "smart guns" which are just glorified machine guns, rocket launchers, and my personal favorite, the flamethrower which will instantly murder any bug that comes your way.There are third person sections, where you have to ride the tactical tank and shoot down aliens that try to board you. These sections are a bit spotty and probably my least favorite parts of the game. What's really cool is all the fanservice the game brings. I love the opening level where you'll go by beakers containing a face hugger and having your heart skip a beat when one of the smurfers burst out and ruins your day. You'll occasionally find the Power Loader, which you can use to ruin the unrelenting hoards day. There are also sections where you crawl through the vents and have to use the radar to make up for the speedier enemies. For a fan of the film series, this game was a huge treat and I still fondly remember the day I got a bunch of quarters and beat this damn game. Capcom, actually made a game I consider to be a spiritual sequel to this title which was loosely based on the Aliens vs. Predator comic book franchise and used the same engine as their D&D brawler. To this day, I still consider this to be the best game to ever come out of the Aliens franchise, though I really do need to check out Alien Isolation someday.


  2. #92
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    69.This takes me back. Meet my father's favorite arcade game and the one he gets super excited about when we actually find a place that has this game. That reason is largely the reason why this game is here because it always reminds me of fun arcade times with my old man. Gauntlet is a top down, four player co-op dungeon crawler where four players take on the role of four major fantasy trope characters. Warrior is basically Conan the Barbarian but with a battle axe instead of a bastard sword, Valkyrie is Red Sonja but now blue, Wizard is Gandalf without the hat and wearing an ugly yellow color, and Elf is Robin Hood with a species change. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses and the game is based on the four players learning to cooperate to advance further. The plot... well there is no plot, at least not until the 3D entries. Players basically traverse deeper and deeper int the games dungeon, battling obscene amounts of enemies while collecting loot and finding food to regain health. Keys need to be found to open doors that will often lead to more enemies, but also the level's exit. You obviously want to avoid damage from enemies that gang up on you or fire spells and arrows at you but the real kicker here is that your health is actually constantly draining. So if you don't maintain your health with food, even a veteran fighter who as left every battle unscathed will eventually die. Most enemies are classic D&D monsters, but the most dreaded is Death, who dramatically raises the amount of health you slowly lose over time and can take far more punishment than anything else the game has. The best part of the game is the hilariously cheesy dialogue the game has with many memorable phrases like "Warrior needs Food badly" and "Valkyrie is about to die". The narm charm of this game is superb. There are no bosses in the game, but I'm also pretty sure there is no final level in either. You basically fight to see how far you can get and your final score. The game had several sequels but beyond some minor tweaks here and there, the originals are all basically the same game. The 3D entries try to revitalize the franchise later, but I just never got into them as much. This is still one of my favorite co-op games as well and I am always up playing this game with other people.


  3. #93
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    68.Oh boy, time to make a few people happy and a lot more sad. I have a confession to make, Kingdom Hearts is probably the closest thing I have to a guilty pleasure in which I place heavy emphasis on the guilty part. I've played most of the series except the mobile titles and the $40 demo attached to the HD remaster of DDD that came out a few months back. At this point in time, I honestly feel nothing for the franchise and I'm probably one of the few people on this forum who doesn't give a trout about KHIII cause at this point, I'm pretty sure the conclusion to the Xehanort plotline would just leave me disappointed like DDD was. So I guess what I'm trying to say here is that this is the only Kingdom Heart game that is going to pop up on this list because it's the only one I still have overwhelmingly positive feelings for, whereas every other entry is a mixed bag. KH1 was an amusing experiment that really surprised me, but the gameplay has aged terribly. KH2 had way better, if kind of more flash than substance gameplay, but the plot was awful past the prologue. 358/2 had a great if kind of long winded plot, with some cool gameplay ideas that were ruined by being put on a a system that couldn't handle it. Birth by Sleep had some great gameplay and introduced some awesome new characters to the series, but ultimately made me wish we didn't have to use Sora and Riku anymore, also this game re-introduced a bunch of silly ideas into the story I wish we could have avoided. DDD had some interesting gameplay (not as good as BbS though) and pretty much hammered the final nail in the coffin containing my interest in the plot and main cast. I can only say that Kingdom Hearts is a series with great ideas that are crippled with juvenile plot lines and hampered by having to stay kid friendly. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Digimon which has a similar problem. So with my confession out of the way and the only real negativity I'll say about the series in general, let's discuss why this game is here. Note: I have only ever played the GBA version, so everything after here largely concerns it and doesn't put into accoutn changes made in the PS2 Remake. Chain of Memories begins right where KH1 left off with Sora, Donald and Goofy looking for Riku and King Mickey. Sora meets a strange man in a black robe who suggests they go to Castle Oblivion where Sora will find something important that he has forgotten. Castle Oblivion supposedly has the power to affect memories and Sora and the others have their abilities sealed into cards and the various floors become reflections of places within Sora's memories. The higher Sora climbs, the more he begins to forget, but he suddenly remembers a girl that was also on Destiny Island with him, Riku, and Kairi. A girl named Namine that Sora and Riku fought over. The plot heavily deals with the theme of memories and how they make us who we are. Being a kid friendly version of this idea (see Ghost in the Shell for the less family friendly version) Sora and everyone else will learn that even without memories, it won't change the kind of person you are deep down. Meanwhile, Riku is also a playable character in this game with his own story. Riku also finds himself lost in the castle, but unlike Sora, who is losing memories, Riku finds himself haunted by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, who represents the darkness still in Riku's heart. Riku goes on a story of redemption and to overcome his guilt for all the bulltrout he pulled in the first game. Overall, the storyline of both characters deal with interesting existential crisis as Sora becomes more flustered and confused as his memories are manipulated; while Riku does some serious soul searching through his own chapters. It gives both characters some much needed character development which they will sadly never really get in the later entries as Riku kind of keeps forgetting the lessons he learned in this entry, while Sora moves from happy-go-lucky kid on an adventure of discovery, to KH's take on a Messianic figure, who is more important as a concept than as a person. The plot officially introduces us to Organization XIII and the Nobodies, though the true nature of their existence wouldn't be elaborated upon until KH2. A shadowy organization who have plans for Sora. The group at Castle Oblivion are their to study the place, but it soon becomes apparent that there is dissent among the ranks, and a group of the newest recruits to the organization are secretly plotting to take over the organization. This ends creating a more interesting story than the simply tales of Sora and Riku, as we get learn more about the group and see the conflicting dynamics of the old guard versus the new guard. In fact, I still feel CoM did the best job of making the most out of Org. XIII as they ultimately get reduced to Mega Man bosses in the sequels, including the one that actually focuses on them, and ultimately get sidestepped as a minor threat when the later entries reveal the real big bad. In this entry, they are a real threat but also a conflicted unit where every member has their own motives and issues. Barring Axel, the surviving members in KH2 are mostly on the same page with Xemnes, and offer very little individuality beyond a personality quirk or two. Which is something I found rather disappointing after the more colorful cast of CoM. Gameplay is kind of deceptive in this game. Most people know it as the "card battle game" but while cards are a major focus, this is not Magic: The Gathering, and the game is very much still an Action-RPG.There is just now more of a strategic element to everything. All actions beyond running require a card. There are five types of cards in battle: Red Cards which are action cards. They have various keyblades on them and allow Sora to swing them. Each Keyblade has various strengths and weaknesses and understanding how Sora naturally combos and placing the cards in an order that maximizes their efficiency is a large part of making a strong deck. Blue Cards are Magic and Summoning cards which work pretty much the same way as the first set, but I would like to stress that magic and summons are ultimately more useful in this game than the console titles. The 2D plane and smaller battle arenas make magic far more effective and the summons odd gimmicks are designed to work better than their odd mini-game/special command nonsense in the other entries. Green Cards are Item cards which help restore health and your deck. Black cards are enemy cards randomly dropped by enemies or gained from defeated bosses, and they offer a slew of really cool passive abilities like changing the number on your cards or boosting their effectiveness. The last set are technically the same as Blue cards, but are acquired differently and are temporary, and these are Friend Cards which randomly appear in battles and let you summon an ally like Donald and Goofy, or the world's corresponding hero.
    All cards have a number between 0 and 9 and you can neutralize and enemy attack by playing a higher number card than theirs, or use a 0 card which neutralizes everything but can also be neutralized by any card higher than it. You can also build Sleights, which is where you combine three cards to fulfill the requirement for a special skill or to increase the potency of a move. Using three of the same magic card will raise its power from a simple Fire spell to Firaga, Freind cards will cast more powerful group hitting moves, and certain combinations will unlock Sora's special skills from KH1 like Ars Arcanum and Trinity Limit. Of course some of these combos require low numbered cards, so you'll have to think about that when building your deck. This is ultimately what I really love about the game is building the deck to really customize how Sora plays. As he levels up, he can increase the size of his deck and you get more customization options. The game also has a versus mode which kind of counters the one gripe I have with the battle system, which is the dame gripe I have with many of the FF titles. There are loads of really cool customization options, but nothing really worth using it on. Yeah, you can build a deck that can finish off any boss in the game due to it's intricate and carefully planned layout, or you could just grind long enough to build a Cloud deck and Omnislash everything in the game. Sadly, the second style is actually easier to do and more common among people I've discussed this game with. At least the versus mode gives it more of a purpose, but good luck finding anyone who has the GBA version and the cable to do the head to head.Riku's gameplay is slightly different, and frankly, I find his gameplay a bit more fun despite his general strategy for winning battles is ultimately the same in every situation: Build the right sleight to go into Dark Riku mode, spam Dark Aura, and win. What makes his gameplay more interesting is that Riku can't build a deck of his own. His deck is handed to him and he only has a few Sleights he can use. He's compensated by having ridiculously overpowered move set. Instead of increasing his deck size, Riku can increase his attack power and how long Dark Riku mode lasts, though increasing the time limit for the mode also increase how much more Riku has to do to enter the mode. Riku can gain enemy cards which he keeps through the various levels and this proves invaluable. The enemy cards are flavor stuff in Sora's game but are incredibly essential in Riku's game. Tjis is because Riku's deck actually get weaker the further you get in. His first deck in Hollow Bastion is filled with 8 and 9 cards, but his deck on Destiny Island is mostly 1-3. Riku's final boss is also more of a headache than Sora's, but Sora probably has the more difficult boss battle in his game simply due tot he fact that Sora's battle is one of attrition whereas Riku's take on the fight comes down to who can kill who faster. This brings up the fact that I find CoM to actually be one of the most balanced games in terms of difficulty in the series. It's not too hard, but it's not as easy as the other entries tend to be. There are some actual challenging boss battles in this game and your ability to grasp and utilize the battle mechanics will play a large part in how easy you make it through the game, whereas I often feel the other entries really comes down to just spamming attack peppered with an occasional healing spell or special attack to win most of the story mode, and the real challenge of the game comes down to the optional stuff, which I still consider to be an awful design Squenix can't seem to shake. So yeah, a great game wrapped in a really thought provoking story that gave the impression the series was going to go into some deep territory with the overarching plot is what ultimately makes this entry stand out to me. For me, this entry was the last time I really had high expectations for the franchise before the later entries crashed me back down to reality and made me except the series for what it is: simple fun for a different audience than me.

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  4. #94
    Edge7's Avatar
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    Chain of Memories seems to be a love it or hate it kinda game, but it's definitely my favorite in the series. I still like to play the first game; despite its datedness, I think it still provides a fun experience. Besides that, my thoughts on the series more or less follow yours, though I'm interested in KH3 for gameplay alone; if it's something of a mix between KH2 and BBS, I'll suffer through the nutty story.
    Returners Represent!

  5. #95
    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
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    I never got into CoM as much as the others in the series. Too much of Sora's plot was reliving the first game over again. I wasn't interested enough to ever try Riku's section though I hear it's better storywise.

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  6. #96
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    I got distracted while writing up the next post and the page froze on me before I could copy it down. So no post today.

  7. #97
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
    I got distracted while writing up the next post and the page froze on me before I could copy it down. So no post today.
    No "Restore Auto-Saved Content" to save the day?

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  9. #99
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
    I got distracted while writing up the next post and the page froze on me before I could copy it down. So no post today.
    No "Restore Auto-Saved Content" to save the day?
    If I knew how, I would have.

  10. #100
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    67. Man, I've been kind of dreading this one, so much so the universe acknowledged it and sent my original write-up into internet limbo. I've mostly been dreading this because I know how "passionate" the fans and the haters are for this game. With that said, let's discuss Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the spiritual successor to legendary FFTactics and the last new game Matsuno actually finished for Squenix before XII destroyed him. In the town of St. Ivalice, young Marche has recently moved here due to his brother Doned's illness and the idea that the countryside will improve his health. Marche has left all his friends and places he's known to help out his sickly brother. He quickly finds himself at the bottom of the pecking order at his new school along with the other outcasts whom he quickly forms a friendship with. Ritz is the school rep and a notorious tomboy who defends the outcasts, she may also have one of the dumbest secrets in gaming. Mewt is a quiet boy who likes to read and play video games. His mother passed away a year earlier and his father Cid became the town drunk due to his inability to cope with it. In the first thirty minutes of the game, we've established how troutty most of the cast's lives are in this small little town. Mewt finds a new book he wishes to share and hoping to cheer Doned up since he's bound to a wheelchair and home, Marche invites Mewt and Ritz to his place. The kids talk about how much they wish they could live in an exciting world like Final Fantasy and eventually read Mewt's book, the Gran Grimoire (Vagrant Story vets will likely be cringing or screaming at the kids at this point) and eventually go to sleep. Overnight, the snowy mountain town of St. Ivalice is transformed into the exotic Ivalice.
    Marche wakes up alone and feels he is dreaming, up until he accidentally commits a hate crime on a Bangaa and has to be saved by the streetwise moogle Montblanc. Montblanc takes Marche under his Pom Pom and let's him join his Clan, known as Clan Nu... oh who am I kidding, we all changed the name when we saw how ridiculous it was. Let's just call is Clan AWESOMESAUCE! In the world of Ivalice, various Clans battle for territory, but there is no real war thanks to the Judge System. Judges monitor all battles and enforce various rules handed down by the royal family, which keeps everyone under the government's thumb, but has prevented any actual deaths or large scale conflicts. Marche eventually proves himself in battle and rises through the ranks to lead the Clan. Marche accidentally stumbles into another dimension that contains one of many powerful crystals that maintain the balance of the world. When he accidentally destroys it, and learns of it's purpose, he begins a plan to find the others in the hopes of destroying all of them will return himself back to the real world. Unfortunately for Marche, he soon discovers that his new friends are also in this world, but don't seem to care about leaving. Ivalice's adventures fit Ritz like a glove and this world, Doned is healthy and can play to his hearts content. Mewt is the crowned prince, with his mother alive in this world as the Queen and his father Cid, the head Judgemaster. Ivalice has allowed all of them to have the world they want. His friends soon turn on him when they learn of Marche's plans to return them all to the real world. Thus we begin what makes this game so fantastic, the moral dilemma of FFTA and Marche's role in the game. is Ivalice a real world that Marche is dooming to destruction in the slim chance it may return him back to his real world, or is Ivalice simply a Lotus Eater Machine that has ensnared the group in a wish fulfilling fantasy that is ultimately destroying their personal growth and making them run away from their real problems? Is Marche right in trying to force his friends to return home, even when people like Doned and Mewt are absolutely miserable in said world? Are Montblanc and Babus even real, and what would the crystal's destruction mean for them? For a game starring middle schoolers, it asks some pretty deep questions and the game tackles serious themes like what is reality versus dreams, the rights of individuals versus the rights of a group, and ultimately the main them of Escapism. The final theme hits especially hard due to the story dealing with children and the sheer meta of it all since I'm sure most of us play video games to escape our rather dull lives. This is a game that one of my friends basically stopped playing because he was morally opposed to what Marche was doing. The themes create that strong of an opinion and while many of Matsuno's titles deal with complicated themes and moral questions, I often feel this game generates the most passion due to it actually dealing with an issue almost all of us can relate to. Despite the kid-friendly atmosphere, TA is a game that handles difficult topics in a mature way, and I almost feel like having the story's theme center around children dealing with real world problems was to incite such heated debates since the game would speak more to the target audience. I feel it's a testament to the game's legacy that people still debate the topic and Marche may be one of the most divisive main heroes (or villain) in the franchise's history. The game side of things is a bit more simple, but no less controversial. FFTA can be easily considered Final Fantasy Tactics Lite. It streamlines or flat out removes a lot of elements from it's predecessor and the game is remarked on by series veterans for having a much more simple design. Whether you feel this is a good thing depends on a number of factors and has also caused it's own heated debates. For me, I fall somewhere in the middle and while there were things I initially praised TA for "fixing" from the original, I soon discovered why certain choices were being made. Magic and the removal of charge times are probably the most easy design change to explain. In Tactics, all spells and some abilities have charge times to compensate for their power, but leave the unit open to be killed if not properly protected. TA makes all abilities instant cast which creates some serious balancing issues as mages will dominate the battlefield throughout the game I often found myself towards the middle of the game that I could clear entire maps with just an Illusionist and a Ninja, which makes you wonder why you would bother with other units. On the other hand, removing the Brave/Faith stats fixes a ton of balancing issues Tactics itself had, and while I miss the extra customization they offered, TA has us covered with the new race dynamic.Unlike Tactics which was all humans all the time. TA introduced us to the Ivalice races and the player is welcome to recruit any of them to their Clan. Each race posses unique jobs and have minor statistical differences that add a new layer of depth to the entire experience. Humes are the "every man" race with balanced stats overall and not excelling at any one thing. Viera are more magically inclined and have better speed, moogles have the best speed and offer some quirky classes. Bangaa offer the best strength and defense, while Nu Muo offer the best magic power and resistance. These minor stat difference come into play when dealing with overlapping jobs like Black Mage or Thief as you can customize difference like building a sturdier Black Mage with a Hume version of a speedy version like a Moogle. Each race has their own collection of unique jobs which help to differentiate them from the other races and often work towards their strengths, though some races do occasionally get the odd job that goes against the grain in order to cover their weaknesses. Viera get classes that balance physical and magical abilities like Magic Fencer, Sniper, and Red Mage. Bangaa get heavy melee focus classes like Gladiator, White Monk, and Dragoon. Nu Muo get magic focused jobs like Alchemist and Sage. Moogles get quirky classes that often deal with buffing and debuffing like Gunner, Animst, and Juggler. Humes off the most balance role and get the most jobs though they share most of them with other races, still they get the unique Hunter, Ninja, and Blue Mage classes. The Job selections are quite nice and really help to give identity to the races. If I have one gripe, it's that the classes do feel a bit too streamlined for my taste, though a large part of that is likely due to being a GBA title and limited memory. Skills are no longer gained by spending Job Points, instead, Ability Points are rewarded after every mission is completed successfully in a set amount. TA takes on FFIX's ability mechanics where each piece of equipment has a skill attached to it and the AP rewarded after missions goes towards the skill until it's "learned" at which point the character can move onto the next piece of gear. Now, I'm a fan of IX's ability system in it's own game, but that's because the developers did a good job of balancing the game's difficulty curve so you're party is always gaining the next advancement of abilities at certain points in the narrative. It's hard to break the game. TA doesn't do as well of a job. While shops and major missions certainly maintain a curve, the bulk of TA is the game's optional missions and when you combine it with how horribly important a Thief now is in this game, it really doesn't take long before you start seeing lopsided results of the ability system as some classes will get mastered in no time, while it may be hours into the post game before you'll start seeing missions and enemies sporting gear that teaches what most people consider to be basic spells. My Black Mage was stuck with -ara spells until late in the post game after I had already conquered most of the games real challenges, and I have several classes not mastered due to the nature of how you acquire Mythril Weapons, which I'll stop there cause I don't want to rant about hiding rewards behind optional multiplayer elements, which sadly was the only idea WotL took from this game when it was ported to PSP. I will also take this time to call out the designer who thought it was a great idea to treat all key items as a separate item in your inventory despite the game making it super easy to overload your inventory with multiples of the same useless item. I like the idea of the missions needing certain key items, but I hate the inconsistency and it really makes me feel it was something slapped together at the last minute. Not only is it really easy to clutter up your whole inventory with useless items and end up denying yourself an important one later, but several key items only appear in a limited capacity, and the game will never tell you which ones. A similar issues happens with the Blue Mage and Morpher classes as well. So my initial playthrough has me stuck at 298 out of 300 missions completed because I accidentally either threw away the Black Thread or used all three of them on the same mission, this tiem only appears three times in the game and is needed for different mission requirements so I literally locked myself out of 100% completion due to the fact the designers decided that some items can be given infinite times while others are limited time only for arbitrary reasons. Yes I'm still salty about this.Another new addition is the Law system. Judges enforce various rules that add restrictions to battles. If you fulfill a law, you get Judge Points which can be used to summon Totema or use Combo abilities, but frankly I never found much use for it anyway. Breaking a law will get you carded by the judges like a soccor/football ref and getting a red card will have the character eemoved from your party until they serve their sentence in jail. If Marche gets sent to prison, well it's game over. Most people hate this mechanic, but I honestly loved it, especially since it was easy to abuse it to give yourself an advantage in battle. There is also a character named Ezel who will sell you Law and Anti-Law cards which will allow you to modify the laws before battles, so it becomes really asy to break the system if you choose to, but I frnakly like the extra layer of challenge it offers, especially since the game is rather easy without it. I also like the stiffer restrictiosn and harsher penalties it has over TA2's lobotomized version.
    If none of this sounds bad to you and the story sounds intriguing enough, I highly recommend the game to anyone. It was a fun romp through Ivalice and scratched the Tactical RPG itch Tactics left behind for me.


  11. #101
    Witch of Theatergoing Karifean's Avatar
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  12. #102
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karifean View Post
    Good to know, though I've probably never seen it because I use Faded Fantasy skin and thus the frame is black for me. The youtube tag is also missing but still usable, though it looks like Old Skool has the same issue.

  13. #103
    Trial by Wombat Bubba's Avatar
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    Oh man, how have I never seen that Aliens game before?! I must obtain a copy at some point.

    I have owned a copy of FF Tactics Advance for years and have never actually played it. It is on my list. Where on my list... I don't know.

  14. #104
    Ghost of Christmas' past Recognized Member theundeadhero's Avatar
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    I still have my copy of FFTA in my gameboy advanced. That I haven't played in eight years. But its still the game in the system! Gonna finish that one day.
    ...

  15. #105
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    66. Hot damn, two Final Fantasy games in a row! Let's talk about Final Fantasy's middle child. Due to be released years after it was relevant, it doesn't garner the same respect as it's other SNES brethren thanks to lacking nostalgia, yet all the cool trout it introduced has not only become standard fare by the time it came out in the West, but we all got introduced to it's best features in an upgraded capacity, making it difficult to appreciate what it really did for the series. For many fans, FFV is the best game in the series. Maybe not the best entry, but the best game, and frankly I find this assessment to be hard to argue you with. The Job Class system is always a welcome customization system, and while it lacks the bells and whistles of the later installments, it kind of beats them out for me by being far better balanced. It's hard to find a bad job in this game, and while it's not as balanced as FFIV, it's gameplay is a pretty close second. It's also the last game in the series that I feel is challenging. Hardly the hardest game in the series, but the difficulty drop between this entry and VI are quite noticeable. The game also introduces a lot of classes that I actually either love or have a soft spot. Blue Mages, Samurai, Dancer, and Mystic Knights are awesome, and despite some people's issues with them, I find that Bard, Tamer, Chemist, and Berserker are pretty neat classes with some cool uses with a creative approach. In fact, that what makes this game so fun is just playing around with all the job combinations, and thanks to not having the min/max element of later installments, you can feel free to really play around with combinations with little repercussion, something even FFIII kind of failed at. Yet to say V's greatest contribution to gameplay is simply it's job class system and the introduction of the sub-job mechanic is kind of selling the game short. The overall game structure of this game really pushes for the player to explore and the game is filled with hidden secrets all across the three (technically five if you can't the submarine parts) world maps you traverse. I loved finding the secret entrance to Castle Walz's basement where Shiva lay hidden to do battle. Using a black chocobo to find Bartz's hometown. Challenging the Gil Snapper, finding the Phantom Village, and the more open ended final act of the game where you collect all of the games ultimate spells, summons and the legendary weapons. FFV may as well be called ADVENTURE: THE GAME, because that's pretty much the experience I feel it offers as a game. The King of Tycoon senses a disturbing presence within the crystals and notices the arrival of a strange meteor to their world. His kingdom has guarded the Wind Crystal for centuries and with the thanks of Cid, mankind has learned to harness the power of the crystals to gain great wealth and prosperity. Unfortunately, this abuse of their power has weakened them, and now the crystals are shattering. Lenna, the Princess of Tycoon goes in search of her father when he doesn't return, and she is soon accosted by monsters. She is saved by Bartz, a noble, if a bit simple, wanderer who comes across her on his travels with his Chocobo stead Boko. The y investigate a meteor that crashes near them and discover Galuf, an amnesiac old man who thinks he may have been a warrior long ago and has a mission to save this world's crystals, but obviously can't quite remember why. With the Wind Crystal destroyed, no ship can sail the seas, and thus the party can't reach the Wind Shrine to investigate. They learn of a pirate crew with a ship that can travel without the need for wind and try to "borrow" it, only to gain the ire of the pirates and their captain, a stern warrior named Faris who has an interesting secret and an unknown connection to one of the party. Faris is intrigued by this possible connection and also wishes to learn why the Wind stopped and so he accompanies the three to the Wind Shrine to discover it's destruction and that some evil force is taking advantage of the crystals weakened state to destroy them. Tasked by the crystal to save the world, it's shards bequeath to them the ancient knowledge of warriors who have long since served the crystals in time past. Thus the four set off on a world spanning adventure that will take them across two worlds and the mutliverse to stop a great evil force from being revived.
    V often gets knocked for it's story. Yes, I would agree that the game is less serious and dramatic than the more popular entries it's sandwiched between, but I still feel that doesn't mean it's plot is bad because the story and characters are more fun than dramatic. The five main characters have their dramatic moments but they are also just fun to be around and watch their next ridiculous plot point. IV's story is often times, very ridiculous, but still tries to play it straight, which can make it hard to gt in for some people. FFV is a bit more tongue in cheek and plays the laughs more often than the serious moments, even then, the serious moments are still well done with moments like Galuf's sacrifice, Bartz's childhood flashback, the birth of the new Phoenix, and Gilgamesh's last stand are fantastic moments that really stay with you. Another element I feel that is often overlooked by this entry is how fantastic it's music is. Clash on the Big Bridge, The Evil Lord Ex-Death, Home Sweet Home, Legend of the Deep Forest, Sorrow of Parting, Music Box, Musica Machina, Dear Friends, and Opening Theme are some of Nobuo Uematsu's best works and really showed he was growing into the promising composer that FFIV led us to see. It's my third favorite FF soundtrack in the series and I'm still amazed by it. I don't feel I really need to sell or explain this one to people, especially here. FFV is a lost gem of the series and for me, proof that Square and Final Fantasy's Golden Age began in the 16-bit era, as this game showed just how fun an RPG could be in terms of game design and just a lovable story and characters.



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