Take A Walk On the Darkside

I was quite surprised when Capcom announce Darkside Chronicles on the eve of RE5 release, because it promises a return to a generation of art style that i thought we would have all said goodbye to with the arrival of RE5. Capcom may not have given fans what they wanted but it's hard to fault them given the encouraging sales and reception of Umbrella Chronicles on the Wii. From the looks of the initial trailer, most of the key staff from Umbrella Chronicles are back for the ride along with some of the staff from the recent CGI production Degeneration and RE5. This follow-up game is of course, touted to be a semi-remake to the fan-favourite RE2 so naturally expectations are high.

Just like Final Fantasy VII, Capcom seems to be milking Resident Evil 2 in the same way by making various different offshoots with varying result, ignoring the very pleas of the fans for a remake. I enjoyed Resident Evil Degeneration a lot, so much in fact i decided to order the limited edition blu-ray box during this spring sale at Play-asia. A bit unexpected considering how much i already spent on the collector edition earlier this month but when i realised i initially wanted to get it had it not come out within a few months of RE5, i thought this is as good as a time as any seeing it's discounted by more than half its original price.

Long Story Short

Here's an unusual gaming quirk of mine which is should to puzzle a few; i have a tendency to finish a long game really quick but tend to prolong short games a little bit longer. No other games demonstrate this better then these two which i happened to be playing recently, Product Number 03 and Final Fantasy VII. I took about forty plus hours to reach the end of Final Fantasy VII and despite all that, there were still so many side missions and summons which i failed to gather. I could have spent a bit more time finishing these side missions and leveling up my characters further but i felt forty hours was enough for me.

PN03 on the other hand is reportedly only a five hour game and sure enough i did finish it under six hours on my first try. However i immediately went back to playing it soon after that, this time trying to clear all the side missions as well as the main story mode. I'm only about two-thirds into finishing the game and if factor in the earlier five plus hours i spent on my first run, i would have spent about 20 plus hours on PN03 already. There is barely any story or cutscene in PN03 but yet the burning desire to master Vanessa moves and score professional rank on every mission have me obsessively playing the game non-stop for the past week. Perhaps it's the difference in genre that led to such different playing styles, now i'm starting to wonder should i even bother with Final Fantasy XIII when it ships.

The Great Repeater

There i was, just moments from finishing FF VII and i felt the urge to cheat my way through the last three boss fights. You see at the start of disc 3, you are given the option of proceeding onto the last stage or continue to level up your characters through the side-missions. Having clocked just slighty over 40 hours of play, i felt that i spend well enough time on the game and bravely proceed onto the final stage. But most of my characters were not really up to task as i rarely spend any time leveling up my two strongest members, Cid and Vincent, they just happen to be powerful right from when i recruit them.

To make things worse you only get one save point troughout the final stage and far too many random battles before you even reach the final boss. When i did get to the final boss, i was overwhelmed by how powerful it and each time that i had to replay it, i had to endure the same pointless random battle before i get another chance at it again. By then I was convinced my characters were not up to the task that i consider cheating my way through. Again, just like i did with FFX a few years back.Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't have any cheat disc in my possession that would work with the game and left with no other options, i gave it one last try. I'm absolutely convinced that sometimes in RPG battle, a little luck is required. Luckily for me, the final sephiroth was not as violent as usual so with a little luck i managed to scrape through and finish my third RPG, the second for this year.

24-7

We have all been there before, of course i'm talking games left unfinished.I often tend to leave a game behind when i'm enticed by newer fancier games only to find that i never ever go back to it after a lapse of time. Sometimes the fear to not being able to comprehend the on-going plot prevents me from going back to it, other time the game simply has too long of a learning curve until i can't be bother to learn up the controls again.

It often happened to me for games that i do not pay for and most recently it happened me again with crisis core so i'm determined not to let that thing happen again with FF VII. i have devise a plan to play the game every day without fail, be it for half an hour or two hours i must play the game at least once a day. Sure a plan like that might eventually make a simple thing like playing games a chore but knowing myself, the tendency of leaving a game as epic as FF VII unfinished is always there. After finishing FF VII, i intend to re-run Advent Children, take another stab at finishing both Dirge of Cerebrus and Crisis Core in order to get the full picture. That is, if i'm not already sick of FF VII by then...

Back for One

A few weeks ago i got myself a copy of FFVII in hopes of reviving my ole PSOne and with my portable 5" LCD screen arriving earlier this week, the revival is now complete. I spent a lot less than i expected, i remember first seeing the screen in the local game stores here and the only thing that has always kept me back from getting it was the price. Considering i wasn't planning on playing it that much, the amount of time i foresee myself spending on it just doesn't justify the asking price though it actually wasn't very expensive.

Now that i have the portable screen i can just keep my PSOne handy by my side on the desk instead of having to dig it up whenever i get the urge. Gamers prefer to wait for these PSOne classic to appear on the PSN but if you already own the game initially why bother paying for it again? While i don't actually have an extensive collection of PSOne games i do have everything i could ever want to play on the platform including a few gems i never got around to playing before abandoning the system. Vagrant Story and Syphon Filter 2 were the unfortunate lot as the former get condemned to hell by some of my friends and i lost interest in the latter when the series became a laughing stock with the release of a few poor sequels on the PS2.

7th Heavan

I received my copy of Final Fantasy VII today after having strike a deal with a fellow forumer last week, who was eager to let go some of his PSOne games. Now in my lifetime of gaming, i have only finished a handful of RPG games, probably still enough to count with my good five fingers. There's Final Fantasy X which i regretfully had to cheat my way to finish it as i didn't level up my characters enough near the end and most recently, Jeanne D'arc on the PSP.

Final Fantasy VII was a game that almost any gamer would know even those who aren't into the RPG genre, and i would really like to know what the big deal is all about. After reviving my Playstation2 recently with Yakuza 2, this PSOne game would be a good start towards reviving my PSOne again, which was never really fully-utilised since i bought it so late and never got it modded after bringing it home. I was only about one-third into Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core before cooling off and ultimately distracted by cel-shaded charms of Jeanna D'Arc. I suspected i will definitely be interested to see how the story continues in FVII once i finished Crisis Core.

At Your Service

With most game franchises having established a history of more than two decades these days, it's not uncommon to find fan service games popping out here and there. Often deemed by Gametrailers as a "loveletter to the fans", fan service games are usually filled with nods and references to past games in the series, which of course only makes sense to long-time followers. I love the concept of fan service games as i believe when done right, can elevate a downright mediorce game to a great one such as the case of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Other times, it can even turn a solid game into an even more memorable one, like Metal Gear Acid 2 though i could be blinded by the cel-shaded graphics and 3D images of Sabra girls to even notice the flaws in that game.

So by default, since i never played Final Fantasy VII before and made little sense outta Advent Children, it would make even a great game like Crisis Core seems mediorce to me as i am unable to spot the references and tribute to FFVII. Oh how i envy you guys....