Flashback Backlog: Persona 4 Golden

Kingdom Hearts II. The Last of Us. Persona 4 Golden. 

Child of Light [Quick] Review

Child of Light is one of those games that boasts an art style that can last for a lifetime. You can play Child of Light twenty years from now and still be awed at the wonderfully aesthetic artwork. In my opinion, this is the best quality of Child of Light. This RPG has a ten hour main story with a basic combat system that doesn’t get in the way of your overall experience of the game, which is good, but it does limit your enjoyment of the video game itself.

Flashback Backlog- Ys: Memories of Celceta

In a never-ending quest to play every game on my backlog, I played Ys: Memories of Celceta last week. I’ve had the game since January, but never touched it because of other games and schoolwork. I finally got time to play it, and damn did I play the hell out of it. It was hard to put Ys down, so I beat it in no time. It isn’t a perfect JRPG, but it was very fun. The hack-and-slash combat was exactly what I needed to enjoy this game. Ys’ story is actually very sub-par, and it was one of the least interesting tales I’ve come across in an RPG. I found myself skipping through a ton of dialog in hopes to just get back into the gameplay. I was interested in the story at first but then the story got a tad too ambitious for its own good. It is typical in a way all JRPGs are; a personal story turning into a good versus evil story. Ys would have actually benefited if it kept its tale simple. It could have just been about Adol regaining his memories and plotting the map of Celceta. That would have been much more interesting, but the tale quickly become about saving the world from evil. I’m not saying that those kind of stores aren’t good, its just that the common trope didn’t fit in this particular game for me.

Regardless, Ys was a fun game with a good soundtrack. The story and the graphics are forgettable, but when Ys’s combat is moving at a fast pace, you won’t care in the slightest way. The combat is simple enough for anyone to just pick up and play, but provides a fair challenge for players. If I was reviewing Ys, I’d probably give this Vita JRPG a 7.5. I can’t stress enough how great the combat is, but just don’t expect a story for the ages or memorable characters.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars Review

Conception II is the worse game I’ve ever been addicted to. As a dungeon crawler, the gameplay was unbalanced and tedious, and I wanted to quit playing a couple of times during my playthrough. However, for some reason, I just didn’t want to quit; I wanted to see this end. It was like watching a bad movie, and you know it is bad, but you just want to see it to the finish line. It is also like watching a natural disaster. You know what you’re watching is horrible and you probably should run, but for some reason, you can’t look away from something so horrifyingly destructive and wonder how is it possible that something like this exists.

The main story revolves around the main character who is discovered to be “God’s Gift.” He is the essential chosen one with a abnormally high energy count compared to everyone else. He is enrolled in an academy with other teenagers who have high energy counts and potential, but as God’s Gift, the main character is the only one who can fight back against the Dusk Circles that are creating monsters. God’s Gift can’t do it alone however. His energy is at its best by having “Star children” by “classmating” with a female classmate. I’m not making this weird premise up, folks. It is indeed a weird concept that no doubt turned a lot of people away from the game. It caters to a certain demographic by subtly highlighting a sexual relationship between teenagers to create star children. To be clear, the game never says that these kids are having sexual relations, but it is highly implied. The star children are made by performing a ritual in a church by God’s Gift and a female student. The two are alone and must touch one another while concentrating, thus a star child is born. The scene in which the ritual is done isn’t too racy, and is quite tame, but depending on your preference and tolerance of fictional sexual situations, you’ll either find it offensive or you’ll just shrug it off. 

Flashback Backlog: Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Xillia is one of my favorite JRPGs of all time. I actually reviewed ToX back in September 2013, and I gave it a 9.5 out of 10. The gameplay was smooth, the voice acting was plentiful and the characters were interesting. Xillia was my first experience with the “Tales of” series, so I was looking to visit a previous title before Tales of Xillia 2 releases later this year. I choose to pick up Tales of Symphonia after hearing that it is arguably the best out of the franchise. I played the HD remake found in the Tales of Symphonia Chronicles on the Playstation 3. I was more than excited for a great JRPG, but the end result was a disappointed gamer. 

Ranking the Cast of Final Fantasy X

In every RPG, the cast of characters are arguably the most important element of the game. Final Fantasy X is no exception, as you spend thirty plus hours with these characters. I’m not a big fan of FFX’s cast of characters, which probably influenced me to dislike the game overall. The characters and script were a bit too awkward for me personally, but a lot of people dig that weirdness. Regardless, I had my favorite character of the bunch and decided to make a list ranking the party characters. Enjoy! (Also, beware of spoilers!)

Flashback Backlog- Final Fantasy X

On my quest to play every main entry in the Final Fantasy series, I found myself playing the HD remaster of Final Fantasy X. I’ve always heard from fans of the Final Fantasy franchise that FFX is one of the best. I’m relatively new to the Final Fantasy series so I didn’t know much about this game or many of the other numbered entries. Before playing this, the only Final Fantasies I’ve experienced were Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns… not favorable entries, right? Regardless, it can only get better from there. Final Fantasy X wasn’t everything I thought it would be, but I did enjoy my time exploring Spira.

Bravely Default [Quick] Review

Bravely Default innovates the JRPG standard in several ways. It smartly changes the smallest details found in many previous games to create the new standard for future titles. Bravely Default is inventive but not flawless. A few minor problems bog down the otherwise great experience.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review

[Full disclosure, I never beat Final Fantasy XIII or XIII-2. I’ve had a growing distaste for the XIII games since the twentieth hour into FF XIII. I have done my research on those games however. I’ve watched multiple recap and walkthrough videos in preparation for reviewing this game.]

Lightning returns finally ends a linear nightmare for Final Fantasy fans. Lightning Returns manages to sour an already acidic series that has tarnished the Square Enix name. It manages to kill whatever life these once mediocre characters had. Especially Lightning. God, I thought Lightning was a bore before, but in this version, were the game is centered around her more than ever, she is downright unlikable. Lightning emits no emotions, no facial expressions and speaks with the most mono-toned voice I’ve ever heard come from a life-form. Lightning isn’t the worst character in the game either. That title belongs to Hope. The little drool puppet constantly talks in your ear throughout your entire adventure. In certain sections he’ll go on and on about trivial nonsense, tell you something you already know about, tell you something you don’t care about, or remind you that you are running out of time. On multiple occasions I screamed at my poor television, in agony of hearing Hope’s annoying sounds. You might want to do yourself a favor and mute this game, turn on the subtitles and play it in silence. You’ll miss out on the decent soundtrack the game boasts, but it’ll be worth it not having your eardrums going through the ultimate test of patience. 

Attention JRPG Fans! Hold on to Your PS3s!

Since the new generation of video game consoles are out into the world, a lot of people might be thinking of trading that dusty old console for a shiny new one. Trading in a Playstation 3 for $100 might sound appealing but is it worth it? For some folks who have nothing to look forward to on their old consoles it might be worth it, but for the average JRPG fans out there, let me tell you why it is not worth it. Spoiler alert: it is all about the games.

1. Tales of Symphonia Chronicles