Zanarkand.A city dead for 1000 years.A city I had to see with my own eyes.The end of Yuna's journey.The last chapter in my story.
My favorite game is Final Fantasy X(that probably wasn't hard to guess)because it's the most beautiful and emotional game I've ever experienced.I love games with an emotional or deep story or games with a lot of spirituality,which is why Final Fantasy VII,Final Fantasy VIII,Shenmue 2,Lost Odyssey,Heavy Rain are also amongst my favorite games.My favorite game genre is RPGs and I think Japan make the best RPGs.I like to collect Japanese games because I find most of them fun to play or very charming.
I love anime,whether it's romance & comedy,drama,action,and the more story oriented ones.I also love the ones with a lot of atmosphere(such as Cowboy Bebop).My top 3 favorite anime series are Rurouni Kenshin,AI Yori Aoshi,Suzuka.Some of my other favorites anime series include:-Cowboy Bebop,Macross,Love Hina,Air Gear,Akikan,Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040,Dragon Ball Z(including some of the movies),Gantz,Rumbling Hearts,Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.
I love Asian movies.I love many films from China,Thailand,Japan,Vietnam,Korea.I love Asian horror films,some of the Asian horror movies I like include:Nang Nak(Thailand),The Eye(Hong Kong and Thailand version),The Eye 2(Hong Kong),Suicide Club(Japan),Tale of Two Sisters(Korea),Shutter(Thai version),The Grudge 1 and 2(Japanese version),The Ring 1 and 2(Japanese version),Koma(Hong Kong),Isola(Japan).
Other Asian movies I love include Mah Nakorn,Curse of the Golden Flower,Hero,House of Flying Daggers,Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,The Myth,Casshern.
My favorite Japanese bands are M.O.V.E,Japan-X,Morning Musume,Gazette,Blood Stain Child and I like some of Erica Hashimoto's songs.I also like female Korean pop groups,J-Pop,Thai pop music,Chinese emo/pop music,Marilyn Manson and I like the song Wind of Change by the Scorpions.I also like soundscapes and new age music.My favorite classical music is Johan Pachelel's Canon.
Some blogs are too personal for me to post on Gamespot so I'll post them here:
My game of the year for each year since 1985:-
2012 The Last Story
2011 Yakuza 4
2010 Heavy Rain
2009 Ar Tonelico 2
2008 Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
2007 Persona 3
2006 Kingdom of Paradise
2005 Jade Empire
2003 The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker
2002 Final Fantasy X
2001 Shenmue 2
1999 Final Fantasy VIII
1998 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
1997 Final Fantasy VII
1996 Super Mario 64
1995 Chrono Trigger
1994 Donkey Kong Country
1993 Aladdin(MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS version)
1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2(MEGA DRIVE/GENESIS version)
1991 The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past
1990 Super Mario World
1989 Dragon Warrior
1988 Phantasy Star
1987 The Legend of Zelda
1985 Super Mario Bros
Walking down the street,distant memories are buried in the past forever.
Follow the Moskva down to Gorky park,listening to the wind of change.
Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night where the children of tomorrow share their dreams with you and me.
Take me to the magic of the moment on a glory night where the children of tomorrow dream away with the wind of change.
I haven't played any of the Drakengard games but I've heard good things about them and the Drakengard series is set in the same world as NIER and I'm a big fan of NIER,it's one of my favorite JRPGs of all time which is the main reason I'm looking forward to Dragengard 3 as well as the fact I enjoy most JRPGs I play.I love Drakengard 3's darker style and bleak looking post apocalyptic world and gorey combat,which NIER has too.
I've decided to hold off buying Fire Emblem Awakening for now because eBay sellers who sell NTSC versions of it charge want over 50 AUD for it plus another 14 AUD for postage or they charge over 40 AUD for it but charge 20 AUD for postage.I guess I'll buy it when sellers ask for less money because I don't want to have to pay over 60 AUD for a handheld game.
It's okay because I have many other games I've yet to beat so that's what I've been focusing on doing instead.I beat the story for Saint Seiya Sanctuary Battle,well I think I did but it didn't give me the trophy for beating all the stories/stages in story mode and it's supposed to be an unmissable trophy if you beat story mode but I did beat story mode and I even got ending credits and then it brought me back to the title screen.
I've been working on beating all the stories for all the kingdoms in Dynasty Warriors 7.The story for Dynasty Warriors 7 is epic and quite captivating,even though the story changes everytime you select a different kingdom.It's platinum trophy looks fairly easy but time consuming but I'll get it one of these days.
Speaking of trophies,FUSE is annoying because it's finally started mentioning everytime I get a trophy and updated my trophy lists after a year of not doing so,however it only updates the trophy lists for games that I've earned trophies for recently but there is some games that I cannot earn anymore trophies for and since I earned 100% of their trophies in the time period when FUSE wasn't working it means it won't update the trophy information for those games.I earned 100% of Final Fantasy XIII's and SEGA MEGA DRIVE Collection's trophies a few months ago when my FUSE trophies weren't getting updated and it still shows my FFXIII trophy completion as 21 out of 36 trophies and my SEGA MEGA DRIVE Collection trophies aren't even listed,but it's showing all the trophies I've earned in the last few days plus trophies I've earned during the period FUSE wasn't updating my trophies IF I earned more trophies for those games in the last few days.
I also can't wait for Soul Sacrifice,which is going to be an action-JRPG that's exclusive for PS Vita and it's localized version is due out in April/May.It has a darker theme and you can sacrifice party members to win battles but you lose them forever and you can sacrifice parts of your character's body to perform devestating attacks.I mentioned about Soul Sacrifice on a previous blog as one of my most anticipated titles of 2013 because it's screen shots,trailer and the way it sounded were awesome but I didn't say I was super excited about it because about it because I've been very excited about certain IPs in the past because they sounded great when I read about them but they ended up disappointing me(such as White Knight Chronicles)hopefully it won't be the case with Soul Sacrifice and it could end up being that killer exclusive the Vita needs(sure Uncharted GA is a great game and is graphically stunning for a handheld game,but many handheld gamers would rather play a JRPG than a shooter)and as great as Persona 4 is it's still a remake of an already existing game which is why many people would rather get a 3DS to play new games such as Mario 3D Land,Kid Icarus Uprising,Fire Emblem Awakening which are also great too but Soul Sacrifice could be that brand new killer exclusive title the Vita needs to get some momentum.
Journey was a truly spiritual experience,I love it for the same reason I love Flower(which was developed by the same developer)and for the reason I like Linger in Shadows which is because their worlds are full of mystery and they have that abstract/artistic feel to their stories and for Journey's and Linger in Shadow's artistry.
For example,in Journey and Flower you'll see ruins of civilizations but those games don't tell you what happened to the people in their worlds,in Flower you're a lonely flower pettle trying to restore civilization,in Journey you're a mysterious hooded character on some mysterious world and you'll encounter other people(human players)but they can't communicate with you through text or verbally and you and them can try to guide eachother through watching what other people do and even though you're not alone,in some ways you are because you can only guess what other players are trying to tell you or are doing.They might be trying to show you the way out of the area you're stuck in,or they might be searching for hidden secret items,or they might be exploring,it's a very spiritual journey.The beautiful sand dunes and yellow sky and occasional ruins/structures blend together beautifully to make the world feel mysterious but one you want to explore and learn it's secrets.
You won't just be in the desert though,there is times you'll be in a thick snowstorm and it's emotionally draining but I don't want to spoil it for you.
The game is very short but it's a cheap price and has replay value if you want to earn all it's trophies.
Jet Grind Radio AKA Jet Set Radio(which I'll refer to as JGR)is a game I have talked about wanting to play many times in numerous blogs because it's a SEGA Dreamcast classic and was exclusive to it for many years and it has a unique,stylish,Japanese feel to it.I must say it's one of those games I want to love but it has annoying problems which is extremely disappointing considering how fun the game is at times.Still I gave it a high score because it was unique for it's time.
The objective of the game is to skate around on inline skates and avoid policemen and spraypaint graffitti on walls before a time limit expires.It might sound simplistic but it's lots of fun because you'll need to find spray cans to graffiti on the walls and sometimes you'll be grinding rails or skating over objects that are up high and you'll need to time your jumps and you can perform tricks when you're in the air and it's kinda fun.The gameplay delivers a rush at times.However the controls are very problematic and doing something as simple as changing direction when you're grinding or jumping off from the rails you're grinding on or when you're trying to guide the direction your character is skating/jumping is much harder than it needs to be.For a game released back in 2000 it's controls are forgivable but for a 2012 rerelease they should be much better.Also,you'll be skating around Tokyo and some of the policemen look charming in how they act.
So yeah,if anybody asks,yes I know Jet Grind Radio and Jet Set Radio are the same game,but I gave the Dreamcast version a score of 9.0 because for it's time it's control problems would have been more forgivable but I've given the Vita version a score of 8.0.
Finally,it took me nearly a year to get past level 63.
I've played a bit of Sleeping Dogs,it's very atmospheric and very violent(you can put heads of enemies into a spinning fan blade and see blood splatter everywhere and you can slam people's heads into objects).The combat system is quite fun,you'll need to delicately time counters which prevents it being a button masher and the story looks like it's building up to something good with you being an undercover cop.
Been working on Ni No Kuni platinum(playing from a post story game save)and have done 30 or so bounty hunts and wanted to do more but more aren't available right now and I've been trying to do the side quests(there's over 100 of them to do).
A week ago I read Final Fantasy X HD footage was shown on PS Vita a few weeks before(I didn't blog about it because I discovered that right after I did a blog about Ni No Kuni)which makes me very happy because it's my favorite game of all time and to know the game really is in production and Square Enix didn't just announce it but then forget about it like with FF vs XIII.
Here is some footage.
Watching the ending now.The final form of the final boss is more annoying than difficult.It's cheap with it's chaos attack.It took me many tries to beat that boss and I was a couple of hits away from beating it but it put Oliver to sleep and then it was going to cast chaos attack which is capable of wiping out my whole party,even if they have lots of HP but luckily I got a 'chance' which means the enemy got stunned or something but Oliver was asleep so I ordered my party to all out attack and they finished off the boss themselves.I still want to platinum the game,I hope the optional bosses aren't too difficult.I had to use one of my 5 items that fully restore HP/MP which I wanted to save incase the optional bosses are even harder,but I still have for of them left.I will save my post game data to a seperate save file incase some of the stuff I need to do to plat the game can only be done in post game.
I won't talk about the ending,but near the end of the game the story became fairly emotional and heartfelt,lets just say it shows us sometimes we can't have everything we want(I'm not refering to any particular character)which is something all of us will have to deal with.I also like how the story has a couple of romance stories too.
While I'm trying to platinum Ni No Kuni I will begin playing Sleeping Dogs and Journey and later on if I can spare some cash I will move onto Fire Emblem Awakening(everyone is talking about it and being a SJRPG and the fact people say it's story is emotional and you can create romance which affects your party members in battle makes it sound like it's my kind of game for sure and now I don't regret buying a 3DS anymore).
Ni No kuni is the first 2013 release I've beaten.
I'm up to Castaway Cove.I have Esther in my party now(she's a blonde-haired girl)and I can now catch familiars(the creatures in the world that you can level up,customize and use in battle).
The battle system feels much more fun with Esther in my party because since I now have 2 familiars participating in battle at once it makes the battles feel more epic.I've seen many people complain about Ni No Kuni's battle system but I think it's battle system is fun and has a decent amount of tactical depth,such as how your familiars have stamina and when they become exhausted you'll need to switch them out for a while and switch to another familiar and since each character can only have 3 familiars with them you need to think carefully about what type of familiar's you have in your party since they have distinctive advanagtages/disadvanagtes such as how some are good with physical attacks,some can use healing magic,and their elemental properties make them have advantages/disadvantages against certain enemies and some familiars can put enemies to sleep.
I love Castaway Cove,it's a seaside village with beautiful blue water and tropical atmosphere.The way the cel-shaded artstyle blends with the beautiful light-blue water and tropical atmosphere and the charming character designs reminds me of Zelda Wind Waker.
I've been playing the game for around 15 hours and I've finally encountered a boss that's challenged me.I've metamorphasized my Mitey one time and not far of doing it a second time.Some of the dungeons add a bit of variation to gameplay such as making you use both controller thumbsticks to control 2 characters over falling platforms in a dungeon.
I've been playing the game for 4 and a half hours and I'm loving it so far,Truly,I'm finding the game quite addictive because it's so charming.
I like how the story has been so far,you play as Oliver who's an ordinary boy from an ordinary little town and one night Oliver and another boy get up to mischief and try to drive a vehicle and Oliver ends up in the lake,his mother saves him but she dies afterwards.Oliver's tears make a doll named Drippy come to life and it tells Oliver of another world named Ni No Kuni which is parallel to the world Oliver is from and there is a person in Ni No Kuni that shares their soul with his mother and if they go to Ni No Kuni it would be possible to bring his mother back.
I love how the story is presented because at times it feels like I'm watching a studio Ghibli anime film because the story presentation gives time for Oliver and his mother to grow on you by showing you what is happening in their normal/daily lives and then when Oliver has to travel to Ni No Kuni which is a world much different to his own because it has walking/talking animals,magic,medieval in style etc.
The battle system is fun,it's action based but you have a timer to input commands,selecting attacks and spells sounds simple enough but occasionally you'll need to block a powerful attack and you need to do so within the timer.So far my party consists of Oliver and 2 familiars plus Drippy.Familiars are creatures that you can level up and you can select familiars to use during a battle and they have certain advantages/disadvantages.Same with Oliver,I can use him in battle and his physical attacks are weak but he can cast offensive spells and healing spells(where as my familiars can't so far).This adds strategy to battles because Oliver and certain familiars are better/less effective during certain points in battle and you can switch whether you want to control Oliver or a certain familiar.
Also,you can run around the battle area as a means to dodge enemy attacks(but like I said the powerful attacks/spells certain enemies do need to be blocked)and you can pick up orbs that give you more HP and MP on the battle area when you're moving around.
The story also seems like it's building up to something epic because I remember a scene with a mysterious looking character who I don't know if they're good/evil seemingly happy Oliver has entered Ni No Kuni.
The visuals during the gameplay are beautiful and charming and colorful and if you're a fan of old style JRPGs but you haven't been able to get into JRPGs this gen,like I said this game has lots of charm and good story telling and it has a world map,towns to visit,sidequests to do etc.
I also like how the game still lets you return to the town Oliver originally comes from(Motorville)or how sometimes it makes you return there because it's nice to switch in between a real style world and fantasy world and I like how the game makes you use magic outside of battle to make things happen in the story(you have to think how to use certain spells that affect a person's heart so they think differently and let you do certain things)and sometimes you'll need to use spells for puzzles in dungeons and it can feel like a Zelda game at times,especially when timing and correct patterns for when you use magic for puzzles in dungeons is crucial and just like in Zelda games you have a limited amount of MP to use for puzzles in dungeons and if you run out you have to grind more/find more.
But yeah,Ni No Kuni is one of the most addictve 7th gen games I've played,along with Yakuza 4,Lost Odyssey,Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core,The Last Story and NieR.
We all knew it was coming,SONY has something big to reveal to us and we knew it had to be the Playstation 4.I'm happy to hear a Final Fantasy game has already been announced for PS4 because the other games announced for it so far don't really excite me but to know a high production value JRPG shouldn't be too far away for PS4 is something that makes me happy,and if it looks as good as Final Fantasy Agni Philosophy demo,it will be epic.
It sucks it won't have native PS3 backwards compatibility,hopefully this stream/cloud idea that will let us play PS3 games allows me to play non mainstram PS3 games that I love a lot such as Ar Tonelico Qoga and Clannad.
I think it's good the PS4 is being released before the Xbox720 because SONY lost a lot of market share to Microsoft,partially due to releasing the PS3 a year after the Xbox360.Nintendo and Microsoft fanboys like to mention the PS3 is behind the Wii and Xbox360 in sales but the PS3 sold more units in the first 5 years of it's lifespan than the Xbox360 did but the Xbox360 had the one year head start and since many games are multiplat,many people decided to stick with their first console.
It's a masterpiece because it's story is very well put together.Even though many stories use time travel,the way Chrono Trigger uses so much creativity with the concept of time travel and timelines as well as using charm and serious story moments makes the story another brilliant work of Sakaguchi.I love how you can be far in the future with robots or tens of millions of years in the past with dinosaurs or in medieval periods and the battle system is quite good for a JRPG released during it's time.I like the variety of characters too(they come for vast periods in history so they have distinctive personalities and ways of speaking).
The only thing that I would like the game to have had is a stronger love story but otherwise the game is a masterpiece and a must play for JRPG fans.
I saw the balloon ending.
Tomorrow I will begin Ni No Kuni
I'll add pics later because my net connection isn't good.
Tidus and Yuna
Tidus can make Yuna laugh by acting goofy,despite the fact Yuna is often sad because she knows she has to sacrifise herself thinking it will save their world and also due to the fact many people in their world are getting killed and entire villages wiped out by a creature that they believed can only be killed temporarily if someone summons a mystical creature to stop it.Yuna is very beautiful and kind and I like Tidus because he's a different kind of protagonist,he's not a tough guy,he's a goofy guy and sports star and I still remember the scenes when Tidus told Yuna if she laughs out loud it will cheer her up and she did do with him and it made them both laugh.Also the scene in the lake when Yuna was thinking about running away with Tidus back into the past(which later turned out to be a dream world) but decided not to because she wanted to try to save the people in the timeline in her world and Yuna cried and Tidus hugged and kissed her and he held her in the water it was truly beautiful.Also,the ending was sad when Tidus told the group after they defeat Yu Yevon(to make their world safe again)he would disappear but they knew they had to and Tidus started to fade and Yuna tried to stop him but she went through him because she wasn't able to touch him anymore.In FFX-2,Yuna tries to find Tidus once again.
Squall and Riona
I like their love story because Squall reminds me of me because he's anti social and I like how a beautiful girl named Riona who's the opposite to Squall takes a liking to him and I remember the scene when they were dancing and he kept tripping but she giggled.
Zack and Aerith
Aerith is a very sweet lady,she tries to grow and sell flowers to brighten up people's lives a bit because Midgar is a dark,ugly,polluted,slum filled city and Zack tried to help her sell the flowers and they even had to deal with obstacles such as needing to find parts to make a cart to transport the flowers.Eventually Zack goes on a mission and cannot see Aerith for years and he gets attacked by many soldiers when he was on his way to see Aerith after being away from her for many years and as he was dying the last thing he could think about was seeing Aerith again.
King and Queen in NieR(I forget their names)
The queen is attacked by wolf shades and as she's about to die she gives her husband a farewell and he has to deal with the reality he's going to have to live his life without her and he is prepared to take him and his men on a suicidal mission to slay the wolf shades but luckily your group is there to stop him getting himself killed and to defeat those shades.
Zidane and Garnet and Steiner and Beatrix
Zidane is a likeable,friendly guy and he loves princess Garnet there comes a time when she cannot be with him because she has so much responsibility but of course they end up together and there's some cute romance scenes between them.Steiner is a very devoted royal servent and he likes Beatrix so he wrote a letter and left it somewhere for her to find it but other people found it and they thought the letter was for them and from a person who they liked and thought that person liked them too.
Zael and Callista
Zael is a mercenary who lives day to day,doesn't know when he will get paid next,doesn't know if he will be killed doing his job tomorrow,he said he didn't care about anything until he met Callista and Callista wants to be with Zael but she doesn't allow that(at first)because the royals are very corrupt and she knows he will be in danger if she be's with him.
Yamato and Honoka
Yamato originally liked a girl named Suzuka but when she didn't share the same feelings back he became the boyfriend of a beautiful and kind girl named Honoka who was willing to do a lot for Yamato and she had liked him for many years,way before he even met Suzuka but Yamato didn't know.However,Honoka broke up with Yamato because he kept talking about Suzuka and focused so much on her but Honoka was thinking about asking Yamato out again but Yamato kept focusing on Suzuka even though Suzuka talks down to Yamato a lot and yells at him and many people think Honoka was a much better girl,she even took care of Yamato when he was sick and always worried about him.Eventually,Honoka tells Suzuka to not pass the opportunity to be with a great guy like Yamato and she said she wanted to be with him but Yamato only has room in his heart for Suzuka.
Kenshin and Karou
Karou had feelings for Kenshin for a long time but Kenshin was always busy trying to help others in need to give her much attention,after a long series,there was indication they would become a couple and in OVA's it showed Kenshin and Karou got married and had a son but he went on a journey again and left her alone again and when he came back he was dying from an illness so Karou made love to him and she contracted that illness and they both died together.
I've purchased The Legend of Zelda Hyrule Historia.It's a book that is supposed to explain about the history of the world,concept art and has manga in it.I've been fascinated by The Legend of Zelda storyline,Link characters and Hyrule for a while because some of the Link characters in Zelda games are either ancestors or decendants of other Link characters I like the time period when most of the world was flooded.I'll talk about the book after I read it
Fire Emblem Awakening is a turn-based strategy game and it's quite story driven and allows you to create romance which affects how the characters involved perform in battle and whether characters survive or die depends on you.
It's a game that I have my eye on and it's probably the next game I'm going to buy,it actually looks like a personal game of the year possibility because I know what I like games to have and FE Awakening has all these things(emotional story,allows you to create romance,Asian artstyle,strategic gameplay).But after I beat Chrono Trigger I'm definately moving on to Ni No Kuni and I'm going to play it until I platinum it(which will take a long time)and then I want to play Sleeping Dogs and Journey because I didn't get to play many 2012 releases and they look quite good but after them I'll play Fire Emblem Awakening for sure.
I'm a long way into Chrono Trigger now and I've extended my time in Thailand by another 7 days so I should nearly have it beaten by the time I'm back in Australia(where my PS3 is)and after I beat Chrono Trigger I can move onto Ni No Kuni.
After I beat Fire Emblem Awakening I'll move onto my backlog of shame.
Tales of Graces(I'm a long way into the game,but couldn't keep playing it after I left Australia,which is a shame because it's one of my favorite RPGs of the 7th gen).
Tales of the Abyss(I've progressed far into it but things have stopped me finishing it).
Skies of Arcadia(I paid a lot of money for my copy of it and it has a unique setting with good old style combat system but I didn't have the time to keep playing it and didn't come back to it even though I was enjoying it a lot).
Paper Mario Thousand Year Door(I was lucky to get a PAL version of this game for the price I bought it for 2 years ago and had to outbid people to get it and I've played enough of it and have seen enough of it to know how charming it is,one of those games that I didn't have time to keep playing and never went back to it).
Paper Mario(Very charmingly presented story and artstyle but didn't have time to keep playing it).
Shadow Hearts Covenant(Haven't even started it)
Jade Cocoon 2(Haven't even started it)
I also own a copy of one of the Wild Arms games(can't remember which one and I've never played it).
There's also Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Rogue Galaxy on my backlog list,Another Code R(Another Code R looks so intriguing I really have to play it one of these days),999(which already has a sequel)Chrono Cross(I own a copy of it but it won't work on my PS3 and I couldn't be bothered creating an account for NTSC region to download it from PSN)and there's also Zelda Twilight Princess and Zelda Skyward Sword(haven't bought Zelda Skyward Sword because I don't have time to play it but I've already bought all the other games I've mentioned except Fire Emblem Awakenings).
Like I've mentioned before,I'm a long way into Chrono Trigger and I've seen enough of it to know why it's one of the best JRPGs of all time and one of the best games of all time,however I have to admit it wouldn't make the top 20 list for my favorite games of all time and it wouldn't make my top 10 favorite RPG list,I just want to say it's a great experience that all gamers should play because of how it uses different time periods and charming story presentation very well but I don't want to jump the bandwagon of people who say ''Chrono Trigger should be in everyone's top 10 RPG list'' because not everyone feels the same way about everything and I've played so many RPGs that is inevitable many great RPGs aren't going to make my top 10 list.
I've had people mock me for putting NieR in my top 10 favorite RPGs of all time list,but some of these people haven't even played NieR but they said ''it scored 5.0 from Gamespot so it must be bad'' or they judge it purely on a technical level and even though I must admit NieR's graphics and gameplay could be better(although I think it's artstyle is beautiful and it's gameplay is fun)it's story drew me in so much and was such an emotional and captivating experience and I was so addicted to the game because of it's story it made it a more fun experience for me than many big name RPGs,but certain people get offended when I say I enjoyed NieR more than Chrono Trigger or Skyrim and I think they're forgetting what gaming is about,and that is to have fun,not to judge everything on a technical level or trying to convince others they should think/feel the same way you do about certain games.
I'm up to the time period where the world looks like a frozen,futuristic wasteland.I love this game,it's story presentation is incredible.I like how you can go from a time period where there's knights and castles to a futuristic environment with robots and I know there's bigger leaps through time to come.It kinda reminds me of why I loved Star Ocean Till The End of Time so much because at times it was very Sci Fi and you'd be traveling through space but at other times you'll be on worlds with medieval technology.I love how Final Fantasy X uses time travel and diverse technological ages,except in Final Fantasy X when you go 1000 years into the future the world is full of nature and machines(machina)are forbidden but 1000 years in the past you begin the story in a futuristic metropolis.
People are talking more and more about the Playstation 4.The PS1,PS2,PS3,PSP have given me some of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.I've had fun with the Vita and although none of it's exclusives are even close to being the best games I've played it's still very early in it's lifespan and I'm sure it will have memorable exclusive games eventually.However,I feel less excited about the PS4 than I did about the PS2 and PS3 because when I played games on the PS1 and PS2 there were times when I thought some of their games have ugly graphics and I even thought the best looking PS1 and PS2 games could still look much better and more realistic.However,when I play PS3 games I don't get this feeling,the PS3 games which take advantage of the PS3's hardware such as Final Fantasy XIII and Uncharted 2 have realistic looking graphics and sure they could look a bit better and a bit more realistic but it's not something I'm fussed about.I remember when I played Final Fantasy VII and FF VIII on the PSone and as much as I loved those games the graphics for their world maps hurt my eyes and even for their time I thought they looked a bit rough.Final Fantasy X is one of the most beautiful games I've ever experienced from an artistic perspective,but on a technical level Final Fantasy X's graphics did look a bit rough.
However,when I play high production value PS3 games such as FFXIII,Uncharted 2 etc. the graphics look very real to me,sure they could have a bit more polish or detail but I don't expect something on the level of Crysis,I just want games that try to give the player realistic environments to look close to being realistic(which FFXIII and Uncharted 2 already do)I don't expect their graphics to look super realistic like with Crysis,after all artstyle is important too and artistic effects can go a long way to making the visuals much more pleasurable to experience(like with FFXIII).
This gen I'll probably stick with only SONY and Nintendo consoles(already own a VITA and 3DS and I'll probably buy a PS4 and Wii U)and I'll probably skip the Xbox720 unless it gets some great Japanese exclusives.
Pattaya is on the east coast of Thailand.It's beautiful,fun and kinda wild place.It's the first time I've ever been to Pattaya.It's very popular with tourists.However,Thailand gets a lot of it's negative stereotype from Pattaya because pattaya is a city full of brothels,bars,seafood,kebab stalls and near beautiful beaches.I live in Bangkok and have been all over Thailand except the deep south and I can tell you Thailand is not like what you see on western made documentaries/movies which makes it look like Thailand has brothels everywhere,in Bangkok sure there is redlight districts but there's many of them in Australian cities,there's many of them in American cities.But I've noticed Pattaya seems to be the example that westerners compare all of Thailand to.Much of Bangkok looks like a very modern city with skybridges called 'BTS' tha have skytrains that take you to many places in the city or which you can walk across if you want to cross a busy road.The skytrains come every few minutes(unlike Australia's crappy train system in which you'll have to wait 30 minutes-1 hour for a train).Some regions in bangkok have expensive apartments and of course there's medium and lower class apartments and I love the area of Bangkok in which I'm registered as living in called Dusit because it has gardens throughout the region and has a more traditional look to it.There's also suburbian style places in Bangkok where some of my relatives live and there's nice houses with little stores near by that sell yummy food.In the north of Thailand,it's a lot more rural.The more south you go,the more tropical Thailand becomes(it starts to look more like Malaysia)and many westerners love Phuket and Rayong in south Thailand(Final Fantasy X was influenced by southern Thailand).The very deep south of Thailand has a muslim majority population although 95% of Thailand is Buddhist,because most people in the very deep south of Thailand have Malay ancestory.
I haven't played more of Chrono Trigger because I've had more problems in my personal life.My girlfriend(who I've been with since April 2012)was pressured into agreeing to marry a rich Australian guy who's double her age(she hasn't married him yet but they've planned it) and I don't need to explain how I feel,what's sad is this is the second time something like this has happened to me in the space of a few years because a few years ago my Indonesian girlfriend was pressured into marrying a man because her parents liked him and his family and because they didn't like the fact I'm not muslim and now I've been screwed over again,this time it's because of money.Basically if she marries him,he's supposed to take care of her family.I know it sound like a bad part of Thai culture but many western guys marry Thai women who are half their age or 30 or even 40 years younger than them naively thinking the woman is really going to love him and I blame part of the problem on the stupid western men who think to themselves ''they are one of the few lucky western men who can be with a woman who's more than 20 years younger than him but who still loves him''.And yeah my girlfriend,if I can call her that is still seeing me,please don't judge her,she really didn't want to marry that guy and anyways,he calls her on the phone when she's with me and my girlfriend has tried to tell him she doesn't want to be with him anymore(I've heard her tell him this many times)but the idiot paid my girlfriend's family sid sod(it's like a payment men often pay to a Thai lady's family before they marry her)and often sid sod is a lot of money,especially if her husband is a westerner because they know they can get more money from him and her family don't want to give the money back to him.Please don't judge all Thai people because of this,honestly there's many great Thai people who would never use their child or family member in this way.
I love my girlfriend but I don't have time for this **** had the same arguements with her that I had with my Indonesian ex girlfriend,they told me they have to do what's best for their family and blah blah blah.My Indonesian ex girlfriend told me give her a few months to divorce her husband,waited nearly a year(yeah I was stupid to do that but she kept saying she needed more time over and over)and I don't want to go through that again.
It sucks this happened right before I am due to go back to Australia,because I'll be far away from her and that guy is going to visit Thailand when I am in Australia and I cannot extend my ticket date back to Australia because I'm running out of money,I still nearly have enough money for a house in rural Thailand but a ticket to Australia costs 1/4 or even 1/3 the value of a cheap house in Thailand and cheap but nice hotels cost me too much and I don't want to be a burden to my relatives.
It's a video game based on the Ong Bak movies which are action movies starring Tony Jaa and the fighting scenes use a lot of Muay Thai kickboxing influence(Muay Thai involves using lots of knees and elbows).
I've seen Ong Bak 1 and 3 and I thought they were quite good,they have great fighting scenes and a bit of humor and I like how they're set in very different settings(one of them is set in modern Thailand and the other is set in 1431.
I think the game footage so far looks quite good.
It's being developed by a Thai developer(Hive)and I like the fact it is because it nobody will know how to do more authentic Thai environments than a Thai developer and it's good to see Thai developers making video games which look good,since Japanese and South Korea have made many popular games already.
Being a diehard JRPG fan I'm ashamed to say I haven't play much of Chrono Trigger until the last couple of years.The SNES version of Chrono Trigger was never released for PAL region but back in 1999 I played a bit of Chrono Trigger using a RoM but I wasn't into JRPGs back then.Later in 1999 I bought and played Final Fantasy VII and it got me into RPGs and afterwards I played Breath of Fire III and IV and Final Fantasy VIII but took a break from gaming and when I started gaming again the PS2 was already out and then I became occupied with PS2 games,not just the JRPGs but the other games on PS2 as well and then later the Gameboy Advance was released and I became occupied playing it's games because it allowed me to play handheld versions of my beloved SNES games such as Super Mario World and A Link to the Past.Then later on the PS3 was released and I'm sure you get the picture.
Anyways,last year I started playing Chrono Trigger again and I was loving it but certain things prevented me from finishing it and when I started gaming again I moved onto other games but I've started playing it again and have progressed far enough into the story that I can see what a masterpiece it is and how it's story is superbly presented.
It uses the concept of time travel and timeline paradoxes,charming characters,seeing the world in different technological ages so you experience a mixture of prehistoric,medieval and Sci Fi and great battle system that encourages you to experiement and combine the attacks of multiple party members together very well.The only 16-Bit era JRPGs that I think can match Chrono Trigger in terms of story are Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI.
Sakaguchi and Kitase were involved in the development of Chrono Trigger(Sakaguchi wrote the stories for Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI).Chrono Trigger uses the artstyle of Dragon Ball Z artist Akira Toriyama and it gives the characters personality too.I like the dialogue for Chrono Trigger,it's charming and makes the characters likable,not jus the party members but the NPC.The characters have charming personalities too.
I like the DS version of the game because the touchscreen makes it much easier to maneuver around.
I'll try to hold off playing Ni No Kuni until I beat Chrono Trigger.
No No Kuni
It's received high scores by western critics,which is a good sign since western critics are usually negative to JRPGs.
It looks to charming and it's artstyle looks beautiful,I love studio Ghibli's artworks and animations and it's story sounds good but also feels like a breath of fresh air and a nice change from the Sci Fi and politically driven JRPG stories that have come out in recent years.And you can catch and use monsters too.
I love the world in the FFXIII series and the history it has.It sounds interesting because of the way the game uses the concept of time.It's visuals look stunning,detailed and realistic and I can't wait to explore it's realistic looking towns.
Beyond Two Souls
From the developer of Heavy Rain,what more do I need to say?
Tales of Xillia
The Tales series constantly has great JRPGs,great in terms of story,artstyle and combat.
It sounds interesting because it's an action/adventure/platformer that allows you to remix and replay memories of targets.Capcom is publishing this game.
Toki To Towa
I don't know much about this game,it's an animation RPG and most likely it will be quite charming.
Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 2
I loved Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 1 and even though FoTNS KR1 showed the story for the anime/manga already,FOTNS KR2 will focus on improving the gameplay.
Metal Gear Solid Revengeance
I like Raiden as a character because he's warmer than Snake and he looks cool with his cybernetic parts and stealth armor and looking forward to having him slice up enemies with a sword.
Metal Gear Solid Ground Zero
Lets you build a base and access your base from a smartphone.Nice.
I liked Muramasa TDB and this game looks like it'll be fun but I'll probably wait for it to drop in price.
The Last of Us
It's story sounds a lot like 28 Weeks Later(infected people and the military are trying to contain it)with story elements of the Road(a man tries to protect his son in a post apocalytic world,but instead it's a man trying to protect a girl.But since it's being developed by NaughtyDog it should be fun and I've read it will have realistic graphics.
DMC evil May Cry
Yeah,I know it's already out and I like the over the top and stylish Japanese action adventure games and gothic/industiral theme so I might pick it up when it's a bit cheaper.
Edge of Twilight
Another action/adventure game,it's darker artstyle appeals to me,hopefully it's gameplay is good.At least it's not first person style like Dishonored is,I hate first person view(with some exceptions).
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
I liked the first HN game,didn't love it but I liked it,haven't played HNMK2 though but new JRPGs always excites me.
It's been described as 'a brutal comabt experience where every decision will have consequential results.Dunno if it's an RPG or action/adventure game,I've read it's both and I dunno when or if it will be localized.
A JRPG that I haven't found much info about.Dunno if or when it will be localized.
Tales of Hearts R
Another Tales RPG and it's going to be released in Japan in March 2013 but I don't know if/when it will be localized.
Valhalla Knights 3
Another JRPG that I'm not sure will be localized or not.
Strike Suit Zero
I like space combat and mechs and this game has stunning visuals and great sound effects.
There's something spiritual about this game,look at it's trailer.
And of course,if localized versions of Yakuza 5 and Final Fantasy Type 0 were announced this year they'd be most welcome on my list,a localized Yakuza 5 would jump to top spot on this list if it were announced.Final Fantasy XIII Versus and The Last Guardian are games I really want too.
2013 looks like a great year for VITA owners who can read Japanese since it has many fun looking JRPGs coming but I don't know if/when a majority of them will be localized.
My new purchases are Ni No Kuni(PS3 version),Ponyo comic,Dynasty Warriors Next(VITA)and the movie 'The Road'.
I've explained millions of times why I'm excited to play Ni No Kuni,I've owned my copy of the game for a week but I can't play it since my PS3 is in another country.I love the Ponyo film and since studio Ghibli worked on the artwork,graphics and animation for Ni No Kuni I thought I would endulge myself with the Ponyo comic even though I can watch the film anytime because I want to see it's more vibrant colors that it uses for story scenes and I want to be able to quickly skip to certain story scenes anytime such as
SPOILER FOR PONYO
after the environment has been flooded because it looks so beautiful surrounded by beautiful blue water
END OF SPOILER FOR PONYO
Dynasty Warriors Next has the fun hack n slash style of previous DW game but it allows you to use turn based strategies in between battles to give you tactical advantages and to form allies,marriages and you can gain more than one territory at once in conquest mode.However,I still think Dynasty Warriors 7 is much better and I think DW Next's story presentation is nowhere near as good as the epic story presentation DW7 has.
The Road is one of my favorite post apocalyptic movies because of the way it blends atmosphere,story and music.In the story,an unnamed disaster/s has killed off all/most plant life and animals in the world and the climate is freezing so people cannot grow crops and they have to find preserved food or resort to cannibalism and there's gangs of cannibals that hunt,kill and eat people or even farm humans to eat,the two main characters ar a man and his young son who are trying to find food and who are trying to avoid the gangs of cannibals.The movie shows much of the world being covered in ash and the trees all dead and it's quite disturbing at times.
As for my backlog,there's too many great-looking games that I own and haven't beaten or even started.
For the next few days I'm going to play more of DW Next because I want to play something simple that I can relax too,but after that I'm going to try to beat Chrono Trigger,I've started playing it a while ago but didn't finish it and being a JPRG fan and Sakaguchi fan and since it's regarded as being one of the best JRPGs and games period of all time I must beat it(get at least one of the endings).
However,I'm going to Australia in 17 days and that means I can play my PS3 and I'm scared I won't be able to resist playing Ni No Kuni because even though Chrono Trigger probably has the better story,the artstyle and world for Ni No Kuni looks too good to turn away from and also I want to work towards not only playing through Ni No Kuni but platinuming it because I want to platinum more Japanese games.
There's Shadow Hearts Covenant,Jade Cocoon 2,Another Code R and 999 which I own but haven't even started.I've played a few hours of Skies of Arcadia and a bit of Paper Mario Thousand Year Door and The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.I also want to review these games oneday but I can't until I play through much of them or preferebly I beat them.
I think the VITA is a great portable console,I showed it to someone and she said it does internet better than her iPhone and it can play games that are close to PS3 quality in terms of graphics.If the VITA had better apps,a phone function and a better camera it could make people think why should they pay much more money for an iphone 5 which is much more expensive,slower,has mostly casual/old games but has better apps and phone capabilities.
To say the game is hard would be an understatement.It's dungeons are set up like intricate mazes and you need to do lots of level grinding when you travel to new areas.It's story is interesting though because like I said in my previous blog,the humans are the ones who've invaded the aliens world(instead of it being the other way around like it usually is),the world uses some sort of A.I named 'Mother Brain' that decides everything for the people in the world and because of the fact the people in the world live in a Utopian style world and don't need to work they trust everything Mother Brain tells them and there's mysterious monster attacks happening on their world and Mother Brain has begun malfunctioning and the people in the world have trouble making decisions without Mother Brain.Also,the story is set 1000 years after the first Phantasy Star game and some of the characters are decendants of characters in the first Phantasy Star game.
It's hard to judge the characters fairly since it'sa 1989 game,if I was to judge it compared to RPGs made back then they have a good amount of depth with their backstories.I like Nei a lot,she's fairly interesting and pretty.
I don't know if I can beat this game,it's too hard to beat without a guide and I don't have the patience but I'll try to get as far as I can go and it's been a worthwhile experience to play one of the most important RPG releases in gaming history because Phantasy Star II set a standard for character-driven stories in RPGs and it was the first 16-Bit console RPG and it continued the creative work of the original Phantasy Star which gave gamers a Sci-Fi setting for a console RPG instead of another fantasy world like many RPGs before it and after it have used.
I'm back in Bangkok now.Penang was nice and I think I might try to go there once per year just to get away from the crowdedness of Bangkok whilst being somewhere tropical and affordable.I liked how Penang didn't have too many tourists unlike Thailand does.
I played Tekken 6 for the first time(it was an arcade machine version),it was okay I guess but I'm not good at using an arcade stick,I'm much better at using a controller.The winning % for player 1 on that machine was 76% and I beat 5 opponents before I lost(5 out of 6 is 83% and is not bad on a first try)and the CPU opponent I lost to had a 65% winning rate.
The only games I feel like playing nowadays are RPGs and certain action/adventure games such as Yakuza and Zelda games.I still like platformer games but I'd rather play the 16-Bit ones over the modern ones with the exception of certain 3D Super Mario games.I used to like fighting games a lot but now I only like them a little bit,I think it was because during the 16-Bit era,many JRPGs didn't get released in Australia(where I was living at the time,and it was the same for Europe)so I had to play platformers and fighting games a lot but after the PSone got lots of great JRPGs I found a much deeper gaming experience playing JRPGs and also my fighting gamer skills declined after I stopped playing fighting games often for many years,I remember when I went to the arcades as a kid and played Street Fighter II and beat many people who challenged me but when I played Street Fighter games years later I execute and time moves very sloppily and it causes me to lose many matches.
When I saw Gamespot mentioning about and showing Yakuza 5 I was excited thinking they had news Yakuza 5 being localized,unfortunately they didn't.
I've heard various opinions as to whether people think Yakuza 5 will be localized or not.
Some people say yes because the Y1,2,3,4,Dead Souls were localized,SEGA made a profit from sales of localized version of Yakuza 4 and since the Yakuza series is story-driven if western Yakuza fans miss out on Yakuza 5's story they may not want to play Yakuza 6 if it were to get localized due to missing out on important story elements(I know the Yakuza games show story scenes from previous games but it's doesn't give the same feeling as watching the story unfold in front of you).
However,some people say they think Yakuza 5 won't be localized because the PS3 is nearing the end of it's lifespan and they think SEGA would rather focus on 8th gen consoles(they use SEGA not localized Valkyria Chronicles III because the PSP was near the end of it's lifespan as an example).
There was period when Yakuza 5 was outselling every Wii U title in Japan but then again that's Japan.
This is the 3rd time I've been tp Penang and it's very beautiful,I'm staying in a place called Queensbay in a small hotel room but it's next to a waterfront that has beautiful blue water and an island with rainforest mountain area and the hotel I'm staying in is across the road from a shopping mall.Even the Malaysian shopping malls are much better than the ones in Australia.
My room has free Wi Fi with good connection speed,flat screen TV and hot water(you'd be surprised how many hotels and apartments in Malaysia and Thailand don't have hot water)and the room I'm staying in costs an equivalent of 17 American/Australian dollars per night.
I also love Malaysian style hamburgers,they taste better than any western style burger I've had and they cost only 1 American/Australian dollar each.
The reason I'm in Penang is because even though I acquired Thai citizenship,the last time I arrived in Thailand I did so on an Australian passport which means I only got the 30 day stay thing.I acquired Thai citizenship and a Thai passport after I arrived in Thailand using my Australian passport.The rules state if you use a foreign passport on arrival you'll be given the same visitation rights as a foreigner.It might sound like a silly idea but it's for a good reason which is to stop Thai males dodging military service which is compulsory after a certain age.
Anyways,I though about crossing into Cambodia by bus and reentering Thailand using my Thai passport but Thai immigration don't allow you to enter Thailand if your Thai passport doesn't have an exit stamp and since I needed to use my Australian passport to leave Thailand because I was still under the 30 day max stay in Thailand thing,it meant I needed to leave Thailand by air and I've opted to go to Penang since it's cheaper than Laos and even though I've been to Laos and like it it's hard to communicate with most Laotion people I've met because they don't speak English good and food is a bit expensive in Laos and Malaysia has better places to shop.
Anyways onto gaming.
I've finished Final Fantasy VI(such an amazing story).The next RPG I'm going to play is named Phantasy Star II.You've probably heard of the series and you're probably thinking the Phantasy Star games from the 7th gen weren't that great so why choose to play Phantasy Star II?
Well that's because Phantasy Star II played an important part in gaming history because it was the first 16-Bit console RPG and it came to North America and PAL regions before the original Final Fantasy did and it did a lot to popularize console RPGs.Many critics rate it amongst the best games of all time,some say it even defined the RPG genre for consoles.Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy seem to get most of the glory for popularizing RPGs for consoles(maybe because Dragon Warrior was the first JRPG and because the first Final Fantasy game was the first game in arguably the most popular RPG series of all time).
Admittedly I haven't played much of Phantasy Star II,I played a bit of it years ago but had other things on my mind and didn't continue but I should and will play through it(try to beat it)out of respect for the genre and also because it'll be lots of fun.It's very story driven,it's plot receives a lot of praise and it tries to be unique by having humans as the bad guys and aliens as the good guys and it tried using a heavily Sci-Fi plot when RPGs back then were heavily influenced by fantasy worlds.
Look at the box art for the game,it looks like the subject matter would make a great Sci Fi novel,however I'm going to play it on Sonic's Ultimate SEGA MEGA DRIVE collection because my MEGA DRIVE emulator doesn't let me save files and I don't want to use save states which means I'll need to wait until I'm back in Australia to be able to play it because that's where my PS3 is,but believe me I will play this game.
EDIT:I forgot to mention last night I decided to game old school style in a video game arcade.I played Street Fighter Alpha 2 because I received 5 credits for only 1 Ringgit but I forgot the arcade version of the game is extremely hard(if I remember correctly the Japanese version is much easier)? I know one of the Japanese versions of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is much easier than the North American version.I played virtua strikers 2002(a soccer game)it was fun as an arcade game but sucks as a soccer game.
I saw lots of Japanese fighting games there which I haven't seen before,one of them was a Fate fighting game but I was intimidate to play it because it gave only 1 credit for 1 ringgit and I haven't played it before but it seemed like a popular game because it was the fighting game most people were playing.
EDIT 2:I've just remembered I can play Phantasy Star II on GBA and there's some great GBA emulators but I'm still thinking I should wait until I can play it on SEGA MEGA DRIVE collection because I want to be able to use a controller and to play it in front of a big screen
I don't really want to go there but I have to for reasons I don't wanna bore you with,it's not that I don't like Penang because I've been there before and the food is lovely and I like warm weather and it's a beautiful place.But I'll only be there for 2 days and I'll return to Bangkok on January 10.
Yesterday when I was talking about Final Fantasy VI in my blog,I was thinking about something which MeganDia talked about in his blog but I didn't mention it because I didn't want the blog to be too long.Anyways,it's about how I think it's much easier for old school JRPGs to be liked because it's easier to make them charming.Since they don't have voice acting the developers need to make the character dialogues be more poetic? or sometimes funny and it makes the characters charming.On the otherhand,after JRPGs started using voice overs,developers seemed to become more conservative with dialogue because voice acters have to act out the dialogue and hearing dialogue that is charming to read may not be charming to hear.
Also,since older consoles couldn't produce realistic visuals,they gave us towns that have their own style instead of focusing on trying to make the town look realistic.
Screenshot of Breath of Fire IV.There is something about it's old school style and story presentation that makes me want to play it.
Same applies for Golden Sun
On the otherhand,White Knight Chronicles is a modern JRPG with realistic graphics so it's towns/cities are big and detailed but I'd rather visit the towns in the 16-bit Final Fantasy games,Breath of Fire III and IV and in Golden Sun.
To the Moon is not an RPG,it's not even a Japanese game but when I played it,it's 16-Bit style visuals and artstyle and story presentation geled together in a way that many games from the 7th gen don't.
I'm not saying developers shouldn't make JRPGs with more modern visuals or without voice acting,because Final Fantasy X is my favorite game of all time,FFVII Crisis Core is my favorite 7th gen game,Lost Odyssey is one of my favorite games of all time too,same with NieR,I really love FFXIII-2 and The Last Story but it would be nice if they could release old style JRPGs or games that are old school once in a while.I haven't played Bastion I want to because I like how it's visuals are presented in an old school type of way that makes them look charming even though they take advantage of modern graphical capabilities too.
I've only just discovered about Agni Philosophy but info about it has been out for a while,maybe the info I have is wrong but this is what I've read and supposively was said or done by Square Enix themselves.
Square Enix released this tech demo themselves and they've refered to it as a Final Fantasy tech demo and it's supposed to be for the Playstation 4.
Rumors say it could be a tech demo of FFXV and Square Enixed published this footage and asked people do they like the theme and if enough people like it they'll use it for FFXV.
Either way it looks awesome and the story setting sounds interesting.This is a synopsis of Agni's Philospy from Final Fantasy Wiki.
The video depicts a temple before an impending solar eclipse, where a group of red-robed mages and their crystal-wielding Grandmaster are attempting to summon a sacred dragon. Partway through the ritual, armed men storm the temple and attack the mages. One mage, Agni, fights alongside the others to protect the Grandmaster, but shows little control over her magic. Despite the mages' efforts, all but Agni fall, and the Grandmaster is gravely wounded. He hands the crystal to Agni, who escapes to the streets, the armed men in hot pursuit. As the men release a mutated hyena, Agni manages to lose her human pursuers before using a potion-like item to heal her bullet wounds. The hyena catches up with her and pins her down, but Agni uses the crystal to summon the dragon from the temple. The dragon destroys the hound, and Agni later climbs on its back and soars to the skies, revealing a gleaming futuristic city on the horizon.
Speaking of Final Fantasy,I've been playing more of Final Fantasy VI again,I'm up to when they use the airship for the first time and the more I play FFVI the more I see how special it is.It's story is very creative and the main stories and backstories for the characters are presented with enough humor,seriousness or charm so you care about them,same with the dialogue.The have diverse combat abilities which helps the combat from feeling too repetitive.
I think Final Fantasy IV,VI,VII,VIII,IX,X,X-2(yes I love FFX-2 because Yuna trying to be with Tidus again is very heartfelt)FFXIII-2 and Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core are amazing games.I think Final Fantasy XIII is a great game although it didn't give me the magical sensation that the FF games I've mentioned did.I think FFXII is a good/great experience but it wasn't a memorable one,same with Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers.
I still haven't played much of FFI,II,III and V and if I had I might think they're amazing or great experiences too.I've played a bit of FF Crystal Chronicles and to be honest I think it's 'meh'.
It's hard to believe a single series could deliver so many great titles with a unique story and memorable characters.
This doesn't even include Square's other masterpieces such as the Chrono series or the World Ends with You.I can't mention Square without mentioning that man again,yes,Sakaguchi who created the Final Fantasy series and he created his own masterpieces which are amongst some of my favorite games of all time such as Lost Odyssey and The Last Story but Square Enix showed they still have the magic after Sakaguchi left by making games such as Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core(one of my favorite games of all time),The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy XIII-2.As long as Toriyama and Kitase are still with Square Enix I'll still have faith them.
I didn't make these lists nor do I agree completely with them but there is some terrible games on these lists and it's funny to see how bad they are lol.