2015 recap: Nintendo 3DS

It's a shame that I played 2 very time-consuming games on the 3DS in the same year. That meant I didn't have enough time to play the many other games that I bought for the system. And trust me, there are a lot of games on my backlog.

Project X Zone and MH4U are games that required a lot of dedication but present very little reward. PXZ felt like it could be a 40 hours game if Monolith Soft had cut back on having to fight the same boss over and over again. MH4U? I can't really complain much expect that this is a grind it out game. Always have been, if you can't stand the grinding then maybe this isn't for you.

Just glad to be done with PXZ because now I'm free to play all the other games I got.

Going through the Motions (and Minions)

I have been playing PxZ for almost 80 hours now and have yet to finish the game. Now I'm beginning to understand why the Xenosaga games during the ps2 era always shipped on two discs. And to think, I originally intended to go back and play these Xeno games (lol).

As honest paying gamers, we naturally prefer our games to be as long as possible. After all we are paying our hard earned money and games aren't cheap so the longer it is the more value we see in the product. I'm not sure if I agree with that sentiment anymore, the value simply cannot be judged by the length. Vanquish is just a 5-hour game and anyone who played through it are likely be satisfied with the game.

PxZ is just a tediously long game, each chapter lasts close to 2 hours of gameplay with no shortcuts allowed. You fight minions after minions and the same bosses over and over again. Each boss usually have about 10 minions with them and there are more than one boss in each level. The fan service starts to wear thin after a while. I started to skipped the silly banter at the start of the fight because I just want to get the level over with.

The grinding is compulsory as the objective is always destroy every enemy so you can't take a shortcut by just finishing off the boss. Grinding is one of the things I hate most about RPG and here it's forced upon the gamer. The biggest problem with the combat sytem is the enemies display no AI whatsoever. The minions are there to just get beaten up by the super-team. Even the bosses feel the same way albeit with a lot more HP and cool finishing move. It's like a strategy RPG where the gamer has to strategize against a mindless opponent.

I was surprised that a sequel to PxZ was announced as fans weren't exactly demanding one. In fact most have yet to finish the game like myself partly because of how tedious it is. The sequel will feature Kiryu and Majima from the RGG series and that is probably one of the few reasons why I would even bother with the next game. 

Sexual Awakening

Here's my perspective of the Fire Emblem series as a relative outsider - it only became popular after IS incorporated dating sim elements into the game. This proves that nothing sells a product better than a little sex appeal. Of course, it may not be true but ever since Awakening made the series a mainstream success, every time it make headlines is concerning sexual elements like censored images and gay marriages.

I wanted to play the Fire Emblem series as I developed a fondness for SRPG on handheld systems. I'm still pretty noob when it comes to RPG so real-time combat in RPG is always daunting to me. In SRPG, you take turns to fight and move the players around on the grid a bit like a chess game.

To prepare myself for Awakening, I played the last Fire Emblem game on the Wii system - Radiant Dawn. It's pretty hardcore and old school, I was playing for hours and made little progress since the early chapters as I keep failing to survive. I would love to finish that game but I'm not sure if I can without resorting to Casual mode.

When I downloaded the demo for Awakening, I was immediately  blown away by the production value of the game. Radiant Dawn on the Wii wasn't a very good looking game by any means, in fact it looked like a Gamecube game (Hello Star Fox Zero!). Speaking of the Gamecube, its amazing how games these days still get referred to as Gamecube standards, shows you how ahead of the curve that system was at the time. Anyway back to Awakening, it's hard to believe Radiant Dawn and Awakening were released back to back on two vastly different system.

IS went all out when making Awakening as they realised the series was slowly declining and that this might very well be the last Fire Emblem game. They certainly didn't held back on the production value from what I seen from the demo so far. Now if only I can finish PxZ so I can get started on this now that my copy has arrived.

Crossing That Line

Who can complain of more Valkyria Chronicles 3 on the 3DS?

Project X is one of those guilty pleasure games, it’s not an excellent game by any means but certainly very addictive and fun. The crossover theme seems to be a common fad in Japanese modern games and here it’s demonstrated to great effect as classic characters from mega franchises come together for one big team-up mash. The chemistry between all these different characters is the highlight of the game, never mind the fact the story makes no sense and it’s just an excuse to pile as many characters together as possible.  I was surprised by the level of detail as the amount of voiceover work is extensive and the characters are all voiced by the original voice actors (from what I can tell with the Valkyria Chronicles 3). Each fixed pair of characters can be assisted by a third party member and I often mixed up each pair with a new character just to see what silly banter they throw at each other.

The game is a strategy RPG but there are action elements thrown on that allows you to string together combo attacks. Basically it’s a bit like the first Devil May Cry game where you juggle the enemy in the air but here it’s all about the timing of the buttons to keep the combo going as long as possible. The animation and 3D effects when you unleash the special attack is simply awesome, no matter how many times you seen it. It’s high unlikely to know every character in the game but there is a useful crosspedia to help you catch up to speed with them and the universe. I started playing Sakura Wars on the PS2 after being introduced to the Gemini character and that’s the beauty of the game, you learn more of other game series.

The game has a repetitive and predictable structure but somehow I'm always drawn back by the familiar characters, theme music and before I know it, another hour has passed. I guess that’s what it means by having fun.