Final Fantasy III Commercial
crafted by: PaulLeona Lewis was a terrible choice for a Final Fantasy XIII theme-song singer. Granted, games never have good songs, but even that Spec Ops: The Line trailer had Bjork, and that's the only thing that made me interested in that game. I can only dream of a Lady Gaga Final Fantasy commercial...
The Collector: The Strategist?
crafted by: Paul
Ah, strategy RPGs!
An even more daunting decision is what to do regarding Playstation turn-based strategy RPGs. I have never been a fan of the genre, especially hating the battle mechanic that squats at the center of the games. I have and love Front Mission 3, but I just can't stomach the brutal, hour-sucking battles in most Final Fantasy Tactics-inspired games. Also there is no free-roaming and overworlds (a must-have in RPGs for me). And yet many of the JRPG hallmarks are present: anime character designs, science-fantasy based magic and settings, and of course impenetrable storylines. Wouldn't I need Vandal Hearts if I was a true completionist?
- Arc the Lad Collection
- Brigandine
- Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth
- Kartia
- Ogre Battle - Limited Edition
- Rhapsody
- Tactics Ogre
- Saiyuki: The Journey West
- Vandal Hearts
- Vandal Hearts II
- Vanguard Bandits
Yes and no. Sure, Kartia has cool Amano art, but looking at these games, I realize that they all look super boring. Nothing would ever make me want to play Rhapsody, a musical SRPG? Yuck.
The Collector: The Completionist?
crafted by: Paul
How could I say no to the butt pirate on this cover?
But what then? What happens when I have that copy of Suikoden I? Do I stop, happy with having a selection of the best PS1 RPGs, or do I keep going, dipping into the fourth, fifth, and sixth tiers. Am I a completionist? If I fancy myself a collector of RPG's - why wouldn't I have both Wild Arms games or Legend of Legaia?
What's more - wouldn't it be easier if I picked these titles up now, saving the expensive titles for a time when I had the cash to throw around? Threads of Fare is much much much cheaper than a complete Lunar 2. Barring a few budget and post-PS2 releases, these are the only games left I'd need to fully complete my collection:
- Alundra 2
Beyond the Beyond: BEYOND ANYTHING YOU'VE EVER SEEN BEFORE!
- Azure Dreams
- Beyond the Beyond
- Granstream Saga
- Guardian's Crusade
- Jade Cocoon
- Legend of Legaia
- Persona
- Persona 2
- Shadow Madness
- Thousand Arms
- Threads of Fate
- Wild Arms
- Wild Arms 2
(YES I nkow the Persona games are well-liked, but I don't like teen-based based games)
Final Fantasy XIII Xbox 360 Screens Revealed
crafted by: PaulJust hours ago Square released the first official screens of the American Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII. Unless you've been living in an otaku-proof cave for the past year, you know that Square's next-gen juggernaut was originally PS3-exclusive until E3 of last year. Fan boys have been slinging mud ever since, and the much-maligned differences between the PS3 and 360 versions of Bayonetta only stoked the flame-mud-war.
Of course, I was never going to buy a post-Final Fantasy VI game for a system that wasn't Playstation. But I did believe that the PS3 version, being the native form of the game and all, would be superior in terms of graphics and sound. Only the sheer brute strength of the PS3 could render Shiva's breasts the way they were meant to be rendered. When I heard that the 360 version would sport 4 discs (to the PS3's 1) and compressed sound and video, I considered the any argument over which version would be better to be null and void. Here's the PS3 version lookin' smooooooth and handsome:
BOING
But certain other bloggers on this site (cough ALEX cough) were still worried about pre-ordering the inferior version of the game. "The Blu Ray read time is slower!" they said. Well now there is proof that the 360 version sucks:
What is this, Final Fantasy XII?
This doesn't look like it's going to be nearly as bad as Final Fantasy X at all! (...)
Random Encounters: Funky Ferret Quest V
crafted by: Paul
I also hate Akira Toriyama designs
After such a dense, fiery two weeks spent with Mass Effect 2, I decided to take a few steps back and play a simpler game. I've had the DS remake of Dragon Quest V for a few weeks and have been looking forward to playing it - it was one of the games I knew I had to play once I got the hand held. I've avoided pretty much every Dragon Quest game up til now - not so much by choice but by coincidence. When I was heaviest into RPGs, around the time Dragon Quest VII came out for PS1, I didn't get it purely on critical advice that it was long and boring. The closest I've come to actually sitting down and playing a Dragon Quest game was watching fellow-bloggers Ted and Alex play long stretches of Dragon Quest VIII back when that came out on PS2. I was enchanted by the excellent orchestrated music and charming simplicity of the world, but as Alex later admitted, "it was probably more fun to watch than to play".
So Dragon Quest is the biggest RPG series I've never really played. But now that I'm a few hours into probably the most beloved entry, I'm remembering why I've waited so long. Dragon Quest games are basic (primal, if you will) RPGs, with linear stories and repetitive, bland battles. It's all cute on the surface, but you have to seriously track your stats and levels or else you will hit a brick wall, as I did with the first boss. There was no challenge inherent in the boss itself - the tactics for winning were obvious - but because my speed levels were too low, it was unpredictable if my Healing Leaf would be cast before the boss could kill my main charachter.
I've mostly been playing easy RPGs the past few months that haven't required me to grind at all. The RPGs I've played - Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VIII, even Final Fantasy VI - all pushed you along at just the right pace so that as long as you fought every enemy you encountered, you wouldn't have to wander around an area grinding for an hour. I remember now that I actually had to grind a lot for a while in Tales of Vesperia, but I didn't mind it at all because of the involving, real-time combat (and because I loved Captain Karol).
This extends over to my "The Collector" series as another reason why I was so invested with 32-bit era RPGs in general: they were the evolution beyond the grind-fests of 8-bit and most 16-bit RPGs. Emphasis was placed on story and experimenting with play mechanics beyond simple command-menus, and as a result the games were much more interesting and enjoyable for me.
The Collector: My Collection
crafted by: Paul
I clearly play these games for the rich stories and deep gameplay mechanics
So we touched on my collection of Playstation 1 role-playing games yesterday. Here's a list of my games:
- Final Fantasy Origins
- Final Fantasy Chronicles
- Final Fantasy Anthology
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy VIII
- Final Fantasy IX
- Chrono Cross
- Xenogears
- SaGa Frontier II
- Parasite Eve
- Front Mission III
- Vagrant Story
- Valkyrie Profile
- Star Ocean: The Second Story
- Alundra
- Grandia
- Tales of Destiny
- Tales of Destiny II
- Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Going by cursory looks at eBay, the most valuable game I have is Valkyrie Profile, which averages above $120. It used to be much more valuable before the PSP port was released a couple of years ago. Thankfully, I pre-ordered it from Electronics Boutique when the game first came out HEH. Tales of Destiny I and II remain fairly valuable - and while I also got ToD I for its original price by getting it when it came out in 1998 (I had a broken arm at the time - memories!!), I definitely over-paid for ToD II a few years ago. I only can buy a game or two a year, and most I wind up getting for about their original retail value either at a store or via eBay (which can run cheaper, but I'm paranoid about getting games without cases or smelling like cat food like my Dreamcast).
So as I have already said - it helps in starting a collection if you already own rarer or more valuable selections - and if you're talking about video games, thats why you had to get them when they came out so that stores like Video Games New York won't stab you with their engorged prices.
Next up: the games I still need.
The Collector: My Collecting
crafted by: Paul
Don't even try and talk to me about Greatest Hits
Collecting video games is an incredibly subjective undertaking. Most people collect because of nostalgia - the games they collect recalling a certain impressionistic, youthful part of their life. Other people collect because they get to a certain age where they can afford the items they couldn't when they were younger (and video games are expensive for kids). Still others collect because they know they can sell it to the aforementioned people for much more than it was initially worth.
Out of my friends, I don't have the biggest or most diverse collection of games (that goes to Alex). But I'm certainly the person with the most invested in a specific collection of old games. That collection is Playstation 1 RPG's.
So why do I collect these games? Video game collecting, for me, is certainly a combination of the aforementioned reasons. Video games were an intrinsic part of my childhood, so I am certainly nostalgic for the games I played when I was younger. Furthermore, I was never left wanting for a video game thanks to my loving parents (and my being an only child), but I still couldn't buy willy nilly every game I wanted, so there are gaps in the collection I have been eager to fill since middle school.
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- Am I worse at Fallout 3 than I used to be or has it just been surpassed by way better games? -p
- New post: POKEMON B/W LEGENDS REVEALED! (http://cli.gs/Tsahh)
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