Justin Baker

Brotherhood Rekindled - Revisiting Dark Souls

Growing up I spent more hours playing games at my friend’s house than I ever did at home. I would ride home with him after school and we would fire up whatever piece of garbage we had rented for the N64. Eventually my Mom would finally get off work and come pick me up, and as much as I would try, gaming just wasn’t the same by myself. I don’t think I’ve ever shared that with him.

Wii U Review -

Happy holidays! This Christmas season my wonderful girlfriend decided my cooking has warranted a rather extravagant present: a Wii U. I’ve spent a little over a week with it, and I have to say that I’m impressed. I don’t want to spoil too much of what you’re about to read, but suffice to say I’m having a great time with my new toy.

With most consoles the defining factor behind having a successful launch lies in the hardware, that is, unless you’re Nintendo. Pack-ins, charming additional features, and family friendliness seem to dominate Nintendo launches, with the powerhouse software being saved for later in the launch window. The Wii U is no exception to this, and the Miiverse continues to be one of the most talked about as well as most exciting new features of Nintendo’s next gen console. However, I would be remiss to not mention the large amount of M rated games that have also launched with the system.

This flies in the face of the philosophy that the Wii launched with, but less mature audiences will still find plenty to play here with titles like New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, Skylanders. It’s quite a shock coming from a Nintendo that shocked the world by announcing that Bayonetta 2 would be on the Wii U to see them following through with their promise that the system would be better geared towards more avid gamers. Of course, only the future will tell if this practice continues, but at least for now they have delivered. So, without further ado let’s get into it.

Hardware

Anybody following the Wii U will tell you that all the excitement lies, much like the Wii before it, in the new controller that Nintendo has cooked up. The gamepad features a touchscreen squeezed in the middle of a traditional controller. Adding to the impressive hardware of the gamepad are several smaller features including a camera, microphone, stylus, and gyroscopic sensor. My initial worry was that it would be too cumbersome to hold for extended play sessions, and the screen would become as useless as the second screen on many DS games. I was quickly proven wrong with the lightweight design and comfortable form factor of the gamepad, which molds to the hand nicely and seems to be, overall, more ergonomic to handle that a 360 or PS3 controller.

A huge plus for me is that the shape allows me to place four fingers on all four shoulder buttons comfortably, which is a complaint I’ve had about modern controllers for quite some time now. The only negative comment I have to levy against the gamepad is that it’s in fact so light that initially it almost felt like a cheap toy. This is likely from years of holding and getting used to ten inch tablets, many of which are heavy enough to wear yours arms out if you’re sitting at an uncomfortable angle. Again, this criticism is very nearly a compliment to the gamepad since I’m able to sit at any bizarre angle on my couch and be completely comfortable playing the Wii U.

The most surprisingly well liked feature seems to be the ability to play many games entirely on the second screen, a feature that looked like a forgettable addition when it was unveiled at E3. As someone who is leaning heavily towards handheld gaming recently, this makes the Wii U infinitely more valuable as a system. Like many handheld gamers, I actually do the bulk of my handheld gaming at home, but being able to move around the house and free up the TV so my girlfriend can watch Netflix makes playing my 3DS over my PS3 an easy choice. Likewise, being able to move around the house with my Wii U has held the same benefits. The range that the gamepad can go from the console is a little disappointing. My bed is too far away, as well as the master bathroom, but my office and guest bathroom are well within playing range. Most of my gaming takes place in the office, living room, or kitchen, so this isn’t  a major complaint, but adding even fifteen feet would have made a world of difference to the gamepad range. Mix that with a little more battery life, and I would be hard pressed to find something to complain about.

Comfort combined with portability make the gamepad more of an achievement that I ever thought possible, and as long as developers make playing solely on the gamepad a high priority feature I can see myself really enjoying Nintendo’s newest controller.

Software

Without a doubt Miiverse has been the talk of the town, even outshining the gamepad in many conversations. Essentially it’s a message board separated into communities for each game in which players can exchange small black and white pictures, short messages, and in some cases screenshots with one another. All this social interactivity is done under the watchful eye of Nintendo’s over protective moderators. This means you can’t use foul language, share any kind of personal information, or talk about politics and religion. For social service in 2012, this is beyond frustrating. I can understand the moderation of vulgar or graphic comments, but anything more than should be enough to gimp any service.

I say ‘should’ because Miiverse has somehow become a thriving community of hilarious art and surprisingly interesting conversation. To call it the killer app of the Wii U might be going a little far, but it rounds out the system software incredibly well. Before I start a game I generally look around at some Nintendo art in Wara Wara plaza, and after I quit a game I tend to check Miiverse for fun comments. The moderation, while frustrating, is the last thing on your mind when you’re reading the comments on a picture of Yoshi pelting Mario with eggs.

Where the software falters is the loading times. While not completely egregious, the load time going in and out of the system menu are just long enough to be noticeable. They hit that perfect amount of time where I start thinking, “I should probably take care of some things, instead of just sitting here on the couch playing video games,” and then the moment I start seriously considering those things the menu pops up and I waste another several hours in front of the TV. It’s really hard to throw too much hate at Nintendo for this oversight because it’s probably the first thing that’s going to be fixed with the next system update, but it does make me feel a bit like a beta tester instead of a customer.

Something I would classify as egregious is Nintendo’s treatment of Wii software. After the slightly confusing process of moving all my Wii software to my new system I discovered the way in which the Wii U plays Wii software: completely compartmentalized emulation. What this means is that to play a Virtual Console game you turn on the Wii U, wait for it to load,  select the Wii channel, wait for it to boot into the Wii firmware, select the title you want with a Wii remote, and then proceed to play the title with the Wii remote or classic controller. Simply not being able to play Virtual Console titles on the gamepad was irritating enough, but to completely wall my Wii software in a virtual machine is like a kick in the face. I understand that this is likely because emulating the Wii isn’t as simple due to hardware restrictions, but it’s something Nintendo desperately needs to work out to avoid alienating anymore fans.

Backwards compatibility aside I’ve been enjoying my two Wii U games: Darksiders II and Nintendo Land. Like Wii Sports before it, Nintendo Land is a perfect showcase for your new console. It’s a slew of Nintendo themed mini games that seamlessly integrates the Miiverse into a package that I wouldn’t be that upset to have paid for separately. It’s not deep enough to provide an avid gamer more than a handful of hours of enjoyment, but it’s great fun when other people want to see what the Wii U is all about.

Darksiders II was my add on, which I chose over New Super Mario Bros. U just to see how well the Wii U handles the game. So far I’ve experienced some slight screen tearing, and at one point completely locked up my Wii U. While I haven’t played Darksiders II on any other console, it seems that these are just symptoms of porting the game to the Wii U. However, the ability to play a full current gen game on the gamepad, as well as being able to manage my inventory on the second screen when playing on the TV have far outshined the technical problems I’ve had. I hope that the problems are indicative of a quickly done port instead of problems developers may have with the hardware, but only time will tell.

Final Thoughts

I’m excited about the future of the Wii U, but I’m a little worried about future releases. A lot of big titles slated for early next year don’t seem to be bothering to port their titles to the Wii U, and the only big first party title on the horizon that I’m excited for is Pikmin 3. The hardware is solid, and the majority of my issues with it can be fixed with firmware patches. If Nintendo would relax a little more with their Miiverse moderation I could see their online presence being comparable to that of Microsoft and Sony.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Vita) -

So I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit in favor of writing and (hopefully) selling some short stories, but I’ve still found time to check out Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on my Vita. I’ve been waiting quite a while for this one, and so far it’s certainly given me good reason to remain glued to my Vita for the last couple of weeks.

Now, I didn’t finish either MGS 2 or MGS 3 during their original runs so I was super excited to have an excuse to go through both of them. The exclusion of the first MGS was a little upsetting, especially considering that the Vita still can’t play PS1 games, but with the original two MSX Metal Gear games still included it remains a very full package.

There seems to be some confusion in the gaming world over what exactly an “HD Collection” really is. It is not a remake. It is the original assets displayed in higher resolution. What this means is that the games aren’t going to look much better than in their original forms; they’re going to look sharper, but textures that were originally badly done will still look bad.

MGS 2 was quite an experience to say the least. In traditional Metal Gear fashion, the story crumbled into a mess of philosophy, crazy monologues, and lengthy boss battles. It was memorable, but got a little crazy. The controls were insufferable to say the least, and the shoehorned back touch controls made things even more frustrating. Although the game itself is well worth putting up with the control scheme, it made me put it down several times.

The inventory management was also revamped to be controlled with the front touch screen. To do this they grouped similar items into a sub-menu which tends to bury items that you don’t use all the time, and caused me to forget about many of them when the time to use them rolled around. Obviously the age old complaint that you play as Raiden for most of the game is still there, and it really wouldn’t be as frustrating if Raiden wasn’t voice acted so badly. If you’ve never played either game be sure to play this one first, because while it’s a fun experience, MGS 3 is the real gem in this package.

Now I’m still not quite done with MGS 3, but so far it’s been one hell of a ride. The music, the much improved voice acting, and most of all the controls all make it a shining example in the series. The villains are a little less intriguing than in the previous title, but they do provide some excellent battles. Naked Snake himself (Big Boss if you prefer) feels like a much more relatable version of Solid Snake. The entire game has a much more gung-ho guns blazing feel to it, and I’ve found myself shooting my way through some sections just because it was more fun. I wouldn’t say that you can play either way, but stealth isn’t as necessary as in previous games. That flexibility combined with the survival mechanics really come together to make something special.

Overall, even without the addition of Peace Walker, which the PS3 version had, it’s still quite a package. If you’re looking for something to kill a good thirty hours (or many many more if you play all the bonus content) then this is the title to get. The games themselves look damn good on the Vita’s screen, and being able to take what many consider the best entry in the entire Metal Gear series with me wherever I go feels great.

Video games are hard. At least, they used to be. The end screen on a game was a hard fought battle, you against the toughest, most unfair creatures and puzzles the designer could think to throw at you. You had to buy books, read magazines, and scour the playground for tips to beat many of them and even then that wasn’t always enough. In addition to those resources you needed an iron thumb and the reflexes to match.

A couple of floppy disks or a gray cartridge were all you needed for an entire weekend, and by the time it was over you either stood triumphant over the final boss or you watched your parents slip the game back into the return slot at your local video store along with your hopes and dreams. Times were hard, but gamers were harder, and they fought on through glitches and esoteric quest dialog. Maps were hand drawn on graph paper and taped on walls over computer monitors. And most of all, if there was an easy mode, you never used it.

Easy mode. That’s what you put on when your kid brother wants to play, but not you, you’re a real gamer. Yeah, it might make the game easier, but it takes out all the integrity. Does beating the game on easy mode even count? Well, unfortunately, it often does not. Don’t think for a second that shelling out over fifty dollars for a game means that you’re entitled to beat it, quite the contrary.

All facetiousness aside, gaming was a hard earned right in its formative years. Now I’m getting older and easy mode is probably one of the biggest reasons that I’ve been able to continue gaming throughout adulthood. I have a job and school to contend with, so honing my lightning reflexes or memorizing patterns just to beat a game I’m playing aren’t things I generally have a lot of time for. I want to get through the narrative and have a fun time doing it, and grinding levels it not something that I find incredibly fun anymore. The taboo surrounding easy modes still goes on in gaming culture, and it’s something saturated in male bravado and hypermsaculinity.

It seems to me that a lot of people are more concerned with how “hardcore” they look when playing a game than they are with having a good time and enjoying the experience. Granted, there isn’t anything wrong with someone who wants to practice the same stage in a game for hundreds of hours and upload perfect speed runs. It’s precisely this kind of dedication that makes gaming great. No, I’m talking about the guy that spends his days playing a single game and trolling the forums looking to belittle anyone who hasn’t spent thousands of hours developing the same mastery of the game that he has.

In this day of dynamic difficulties, increasingly impressive AI, and radically diverse play styles, you should be allowed to play easy mode without feeling like you’re doing it wrong. There is a certain amount of accomplishment that comes from completing a challenging task, but at a certain point it just feels like bashing your head against a brick wall. Difficulty is a hard thing to nail down. Developers and testers spend months, even years with some games, so it’s hard for them to tell what level of difficulty would be appropriate for a new player.

My girlfriend of four years recently started getting into playing games a bit, and simple things like moving in a 3D space and shoulder buttons still give her trouble. This keeps her from playing the bulk of major games on her Vita that she recently purchased. She seeks out games that are easy enough, and that don’t punish gamers who complete the game on normal. On that same note I always hesitate when purchasing something that is considered difficult. The more recent example is Dark Souls, a game that I adore.

Dark Souls is one of those games that comes along once a generation, and despite the fact that it ignores many years of gameplay innovations, it becomes a hit. The atmosphere and esoteric storyline drew then, as expected, spit and me in me back out. The difficulty was part of the appeal, but in the end it prevented me from finishing the game. After about sixty hours I moved on to other titles that were piling up, and I still look back on Dark Souls wishing I had the time and manual dexterity to go back and finish it. My point here is that I loved the game, and if there was an easy mode then I might have been able to finish it instead of just giving up. No, it might not have been as satisfying as defeating the game’s challenge, but I would have felt better having had a more complete experience.

So to anyone out there that still hesitates on the difficulty selection screen: take the leap, no one’s watching. Bump it down a notch, sit back, and have a good time. It’s easy to forget that games should be enjoyed, and they aren’t always tweaked perfectly to your particular skill level. It’s time that the easy mode taboo is broken, and we all move on to greener pastures.

Diablo III Review -

To say that I’ve waited a long time for Diablo III would be a discredit to the franchise. I grew up with Diablo, and it was a staple of the movement from my trusty Nintendo consoles to the daunting realm of PC gaming. Diablo II came out when I was in middle school, and I’ve played it on and off since then. From Deckard Cain’s voice the sound of a gem dropping, it’s all was all ingrained into my young impressionable mind.

Unfortunately the launch of Diablo III was not without issues, some of which are still going on at the time of this writing. I’ve had my share of errors as well as disconnects, and I still occasionally get some strange artifacting when playing. For the most part the major wrinkles are being ironed out, but they certainly didn’t kick off this monumental title well. Granted, some issues are to be expected with a game this huge, but it’s hard to imagine that the company that runs the most successful MMORPG of all time wouldn’t be able a little more prepared on the server front.

The auction house, possibly the biggest addition to the Diablo franchise, is also a hotbed of issues. As a former World of Warcraft player, I was ecstatic to see them bringing an auction house to Diablo. The days of wandering through public rooms and bargaining with tight-fisted jewel hoarders would be over! Unfortunately, it feels like a beta version. In my time digging through auctions I’ve repeatedly run into errors with transactions timing out, and often simply not being able to purchase and item. When the interface and auction house work, they work well enough, but they are both in desperate need of some generous patching.

However, the social functions of the game are executed flawlessly. As soon as I log in I’m prompted with buttons listing my friends currently playing, and a simple click of the mouse will teleport me into their game. Another click on their personal banner and I’m standing next to them cutting through swaths of demons. It literally takes seconds (load time withstanding) to jump into a friend’s game. Public games work just as well too, although the lobby system has been ditched in favor of matchmaking. The only problem I have with the way they’ve built the social system is that you have no way of stopping a friend from joining your game. This can be an issue if you’re going to need to pause frequently, or if you just prefer to play through the game solo the first time around.

Of course, Diablo has always been at its best when played together. The addition of achievements that pop up to everyone on your friends list lets you know what they’re accomplishing, and the ability to compare statistics makes for some very competitive co-op. By far my favorite feature of multiplayer is that each player gets their own loot, meaning no more speed clicking on items the second a boss dies to make sure you get the good items. This is a major relief for people like myself, who were usually too slow to grab anything good while playing online.

This entry in the series is much more story driven that the first two, with a few interesting plot twists. It isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but it gets the job done, and does some very interesting things with characters that veteran players are familiar with. There are only a handful of actual cinematics, and most of the storytelling happens using the in game engine and voiced journal entries that the player picks up from time to time. I enjoyed the story quite a bit, and the journals kept the game flowing while getting me up to date with the lore at the same time.

As for the gameplay itself, it certainly hooks you. Levelling up has been streamlined, and skills can be changed on the fly as the player sees fit. This keeps you from accidentally selecting skill combinations that don’t work well, which hurt you later in the game. In similar fashion, you no longer allocate stat points as it’s all done behind the scenes now. This means, aside from gear, two players of the same class are identical if they have the same skills. The upside to this loss of fine-tuning that hardcode Diablo II players may miss is that as long as you’re about the same level as another character and have been keeping up with your gear, then you won’t have any trouble playing together. In my thirty or so hours of playing I’ve felt some slight gaps between myself and other players, but for the most part we’re all on the same page.

Gear is the main course of Diablo III. The blacksmith and the jeweler will be your main NPCs, and both of them can be levelled up to craft more powerful jewels and gear. At the time of writing, I’m level fifty and I’m still levelling up both of them. Crafting at the jeweler is pretty straightforward, combine jewels to make better ones. The blacksmith, however, is a little different. As you unlock new items to craft, they have random stats. They list the rarity and how many magical properties the item will have, but you don’t know what they are until you actually go ahead and make the item. Crafting materials are obtained by breaking down magical items, so you can see the loop you get into here. Get loot, break it down, craft new loot, repeat ad infinitum. It’s a very addictive circle.

The graphics are bright and keep even the dark bowels of hell looking interesting, and the music is as booming and ominous as previous entries. Blizzard has made jumping into the fray with your friends easier than ever, and the gameplay is there to back it up. Grinding gear, combining jewels, wheeling and dealing on the auction house, it all makes for an addicting experience. Aside from the issues still plaguing the interface that the game is packaged in, and an auction house that desperately needs some work, Blizzard has once again crafted one hell of a great game. As long as you can get through the errors and initial bugs (which are generally exaggerated), you’re going to have a great time in Diablo III.

Mortal Kombat Vita Impressions -

I’ve had the pleasure of playing the new Mortal Kombat game on my Vita, and it sure is a breath of fresh air. I’ve always loved fighting games, but only in the privacy of my own room. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have been into fighting games during their popularity surge of the Nineties as I was kind of busy being a little kid.

I grew to love Street Fighter II on my SNES, and watched my brother play Mortal Kombat. He was always the better player, and as little brothers the world over can attest to: it’s not fun getting constantly trampled by your older brother in fighting games.

So I played them on my own in secret. I’m decent at them, but not decent enough to compete online. They’re a fascination, but I’m not one to count frames of animation or cancel out of hyper combos. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why I end up disappointed in so many fighters. Aside from the arcade mode, there is usually very little single-player content to speak of. This is, I feel, Mortal Kombat’s greatest triumph.

The story mode is lengthy, fully animated, and voice acted. It gives me the fleshed out stories and character motivations that I’ve always wanted from the genre. Now, granted, it’s still Mortal Kombat. That means that the story is a silly gore-filled soap opera about sorcerers, super-ninjas and lightning gods literally ripping each other’s throats out. The story is very unapologetic about what it is, and makes no concessions in that regard. This is MK at its goriest, and finest.

The actual combat within the game runs at a solid 60 FPS, and has a very nice flow. The models themselves are a little jaggy, but the framerate makes up for it by never dipping and never slowing down. The cutscenes themselves also have been compressed to the point that it’s visible, but it isn’t bad enough to ruin anything.

I was never a big MK player, but the slower, more calculating flow of battle leads to satisfying battles. Some matches can be several seconds of whiffing and dancing around one another until the first punch finally lands, and leads with ease into a blood-spurting combo.

Luckily, the Vita version includes all the DLC, so the forty dollar price tag feels a little more reasonable for a game that is a year old. It also includes a few touch-based mini games that are part of the new challenge tower, and while they’re really just cell phone games done with MK characters, they work well and are a fun addition to the overall package.

The re-telling of the first three games that takes place in the story has lead me to actually become attached to some of the characters, and as someone not familiar with the lore, I find myself genuinely interested and engaged with the storyline. Again, it’s about as deep as a daytime soap opera, but it’s still a fun romp through Outworld.

Thanks to my lovely tax return I now have a Vita. So far I’ve been really enjoying it, and the few games I have on it. Unfortunately due to finals and multiple jobs I don’t feel much like writing an entire article about anything that substantial, so I’ll just put some impressions below.

Hardware:

The touchscreen and touchpad are the most impressive, and in an age when touchscreens are so prolific, that’s really quite a compliment. It’s responsive, precise, and I haven’t had any issues with it beyond some gimmicky controls. The colors really pop, and the resolution is fantastic.

Unfortunately, the screen does have one slight flaw. In a dark room when the screen is a dark color it looks mottled. At first I thought it was bubbles under my screen, but then I checked my girlfriend’s Vita and it had the same issue. Some short research online showed me that not only is this problem well known, but it has thus far been ignored by Sony. The obvious response is “don’t use the Vita in a dark room” - it’s bad for your eyes anyway - but it’s a little disconcerting that a device that was so touted for its amazing screen has such a glaring flaw. It’s a small one, but it’s still a little baffling that Sony didn’t take care of it.

The analog sticks were what I was most skeptical of, and my skepticism was completely unfounded - they are awesome. They are at least as precise as a PS3 controller, and have a great feel to them, despite their small size. I’ve been playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and I keep forgetting I’m not holding a traditional controller. The small buttons were also a concern, but they are extra clicky and lend themselves well to button-mashing.

The operating system is decent, and has some fun features. The biggest complaint I’ve heard is that you can’t use the buttons to navigate the home screens, but I’ve yet to even accidentally try to navigate with them. This might be due to the fact that, again, I have big hands, thus I had no problem reaching any area of the screen.


Software:

The software included is adequate, but won’t change the way you view small electronics. The web browser works, the keyboard works, and Netflix is a little sluggish. Not being able to browse is a big downside, as I tend to look up FAQs for games while I’m playing.

The frustrating part is that there is a workaround with the Twitter app that will allow you to browse while playing a game, so we know it’s possible just not enabled yet. In addition to that the browser doesn’t load the page until you actually scroll to it, making scrolling a little bit of a hassle. While, again, the browser isn’t a crucial part to the system, it still would have been nice to see them outsource this to someone like Opera.

Running programs work a lot like they did on webOS (for the ten of you that used it before it died). They are made up of little cards that you can swipe off the screen to close, and it all seems to work just fine. I haven’t had any lock ups with the device, or even any interface lag.

Games:

Well all know this is the important part. How are the games? Well, they’re quite impressive. I’m not a big fan of amazing graphics, but I definitely found myself marvelling at the sheer resolution and number of assets on screen. Aside from the launch games, which included several great titles, there has been very little in the way of new releases.

The next big release is Mortal Kombat which will release in a few days, and Disgaea 3 came out recently, but you’re going to be playing the same release titles for the time being. Fortunately, it was a strong lineup and there’s some good variety.

My game of choice has been Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, which is really just a re-release of Sigma, but still one of my favorite action games. Aside from some mildly annoying touch controls, it’s a great title that sacrifices absolutely nothing with its handheld release.

Overall:

The Vita is quite an impressive system overall, and my complaints with it are minor at worst. After purchasing the system I was a little surprised that it was only $250, since that’s how much I paid for my 3DS and it stands a head and shoulders above the 3DS in terms of hardware. Of course, it has to compete with the beast that is Nintendo marketing, as well as various cell phone markets that have indoctrinated people into the ninety-nine cent mindset, but I think Sony has a powerful enough system to really drive demand here in the West.

Skyward Sword -

I’ve just recently picked up Xenoblade Chronicles after a short argument with the clerk at Gamestop about whether or not I needed a PowerUp card. When I went to pop it in the old Wii I had to remove Skyward Sword, a game I haven’t touched in a few months. As I held the disc in my hand I realized that I was just going to add it to my growing pile of unfinished games. In a moment of determination I set Xenoblade Chronicles aside and decided I would give Skyward Sword one more try. I was already around twenty hours into it, and I thought I could power through the rest. That lasted about eighteen minutes.

I grew up in what could only be described as a Zelda home. My brother played every console entry in the series several times over while I played every handheld one. It was always a constant, one of us playing the newest Zelda game and talking about it. I’ve come to love the Metroid series much more, but Zelda still holds a place in my heart. So when Skyward Sword came out, I ordered off Amazon and waited patiently.

But, my patience ended in disappointment as I spent what felt like hours in the tutorial. It’s rare that a game with such a unique setting is able to create such a mundane and boring introduction. But, we’ve all been there, some games in the Zelda series just start slow. I pressed on, and into the belly of the beast.

I just don’t get it, Nintendo. This had the potential to be the most unique Zelda game since Link’s Awakening, and look what you did.

The controls are terrible, but not in an outright way. When you get to play around with them at first they show a glimmer of hope, and you can easily see how this could work well. Then you get into an actual combat scenario, which requires quick thinking and fast reflexes to hit the enemy with the right directional slash. It’s inaccurate, which is the word thing combat can be. If a game does nothing else well, but has tight, fun to play combat, it can still stand a chance with me, but this just feels sloppy.

It picks up about nine out of ten swings properly, which sounds much better than most motion controlled swings. Most of the time it works acceptably well, but the one time out of ten that it doesn’t is infuriating. If I mess up in a game because I pressed the wrong button, then it’s my fault, but if I mess up because I was a few degrees off on the angle of my swing or because the game recognized something badly, then something is very wrong. When I can’t beat a boss it needs to be because I’m not quick enough, or because I don’t recognize the pattern, never because the game is just sloppily put together.

Of course this kind of complaint is always countered with the obvious “Well, I never had any problems with the controls, must be something you’re doing!”

This argument is still neutralized in the face of the obvious response: the fact that I can “do it wrong” means that something is wrong with the control scheme. If I had to press the A button to attack, and I pressed B instead, then yes, I did it wrong. Unfortunately with motions controls there is no exact right way to perform the actions, and that is the problem: innacuracy.

Unfortunately the controls aren’t the only thing wrong here. Nintendo seems to have taken a solid twenty hour Zelda game and shoved twenty hours of fluff into it. Why do I have to find three pieces of a key to open a door, is just finding the key not enough? A more specific example is the propeller. I had to find a propeller to move a windmill to activate a hidden platform to play a song to point to where I needed to go to learn a song to enter the next dungeon. There were no new areas, no bosses, no puzzles, just me finding things laying about. Why was this even included in the game? It is quite literally the definition of fluff: a meaningless character needs a meaningless item to give me a meaningless ability to open a door.

The worst part is that the game is colorful, full of neat characters, and adds a lot to the history of Hyrule. It could have been such a fantastic entry, even with the inaccurate controls. There’s so much potential here buried under the fluff and artificial barriers. To those of you that were able to stick Skyward Sword out, I salute you. At least I still have Xenoblade Chronicles, and so far it’s one hell of a game.

Final Fantasy VII -

Whew! Just finished some work on a critical analysis of Mad Men for my English class. Of course, it was just the preliminary essay, I still have the ten page paper to write. So, in light of that, I thought I would come here and talk about some stuff more fun and mind-numbing: Video Games!

I’ve recently picked up Final Fantasy VII again. Originally I owned the game on PC because I didn’t have a Playstation. I remember seeing it in Target and going nuts over it because I had a PC, I could finally play the game that everyone is talking about! I convinced my mother to buy it, rushed home, installed it, played for about an hour, and then watched my computer chug and wheeze as I confronted Sephiroth at the top of a tower in Midgar. Then it crashed, deleted my save, and corrupted the install. The seven disc install that took hours. What’s a gamer to do?

Well, like any sufficiently addicted gaming child, I reinstalled and started over. I think it was about the tenth time that I went through this cycle of installing, playing, and crashing that the game finally got past that first part. I was finally able to play! Oddly enough I developed very good ten key skills from playing because it used the numpad for everything. That’s right, I played FFVII on a an eMachine with a numpad.

Of course I played a large portion of the first disc and the game crashed again. This time I was done; I resigned myself to simply watching my friend Chad play the game on his Playstation after school. Things went on this way for a couple of years, and everyone kept talking about the game; it was that huge. Chad probably played it a dozen times, with me watching from behind my Game Boy after school still. This was satisfactory for a while, but eventually I grew tired of it and moved on to Final Fantasy IX, which had just come out. It quickly became one of my favorite games of all time, and further cemented my odd quirk preferring the lesser known entries in any given series. Maybe that stems from being a little brother and perpetual second player, either way I always tend to gravitate towards oddball entries like Luigi’s Mansion, Metroid Fusion, and Link’s Awakening.

So I moved on and forgot about FFVII, and it faded into my past. A few years ago I sought to find a copy and play it, but it was a hard find in good shape for less than fifty dollars. But, technology came to the rescue and it was released on the PSN. So not only could I play it for ten dollars, but I could even play it on the go on my PSP.

So I set out on my adventure, and realized something very quickly: these graphics have aged terribly. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love old games, but the disparity between the backgrounds and the characters is quite jarring. Not to mention the fact that it feels like they have four different graphics engines trading off depending on the kind of cutscene you’re in. For the most part characters are represented in what could best be described as lego figures. No fingers, blocky hair, and chunky legs. But, let us not forget, this was the first foray into the realm of polygons for SquareSoft so this kind of thing is to be expected.

The combat, however, is still phenomenal. I’ve always preferred the Final Fantasy games that use the job system (FF, FFIII, FFV), and the materia system is a natural progression of that. You can completely customize each character to any play style you want, giving you a chance for true hybrid classes. This is “simple to use but hard to master” gameplay at its best, giving me a deep level of control of each character and their role in combat.

Like many - some would say most - FF titles, I do find myself wandering around the overworld quite a bit trying to figure out exactly where to go. I’ve had to look up a guide more than once, but I know that this is part of the fun. Wandering around the world, fighting monsters, discovering new Materia, it’s all part of the allure.

I’ve yet to actually finish the game - In fact, I think I’m still pretty early on - but the story is full of humor, depth, and genuinely heartbreaking moments other than just Aeris getting a heaping helping of Masmune. Every character has a tragic past that gets explored in detail, and it never feels forced or unnatural. For anyone else that missed this watershed moment in gaming, give it a chance. Although it’s very lengthy and involved, I’m still finding plenty of emotional reward in slowly picking my way through this masterpiece.

Find Mii II-

Find Mii is one of those games that a lot of people look at, play for a few minutes, then turn off and forget about it. My brother, for instance, hasn’t opened Find Mii once since getting his 3DS. I was the same way until I started getting multiple StreetPass hits a day while on campus, and I figured I would give it a shot. Hell, it’s long enough between good 3DS releases, I might as well find some way to entertain myself with the damn thing.

The premise is simple, use the Mii of people you tag on StreetPass to traverse a very simple dungeon and save your own Mii from  a big baddie. You can spend coins that you get from walking on “wandering adventurers” to help out when you’re not hitting out and about enough to get tags. Each time you tag someone they level up, so it leads to a fun game of trying to go the same spots in your daily routine to get the same people. So, I played through it, a few minutes a day, and beat it. I got some useless hats for my Mii and moved on with my life.

A few weeks later I picked it up again, and found that it’s the exact same game. Same dungeon, same monsters, but some different hats. Hooray, Nintendo, you really outdid yourselves here. Apathy took over and I would go a couple of days in between clearing out my Spotpass gate, so I slowly whittled my way through the game. Finally, again, I beat it, but this time something different happened. The credits rolled and I unlocked Find Mii II.

Suddenly I found myself immersed in what was an RPG that required actual tactics and thought. You can combine adventurers for multiple attacks, buy special potions, and rehire old adventurers that you’ve met. This makes a big difference, because high level adventurers can traverse several rooms before running off, unlike the low-level wandering adventurers that are the grunts of Find Mii. Divergent paths bring make it feel a little more like an adventure, and even the enemies are much more menacing and powerful.

Nintendo really hid this gem deep in the system, and I’m sure many people are unaware of it. I’ve heard mention of Find Mii II before, but I always dismissed it as more of the same. It almost feels like it could have been a full eShop release, so the fact that Nintendo just decided to include it in the system for free is fantastic. The cost of everything rises in Find Mii II, giving me something to finally spend all those saved up coins on. The only reason I can find that the Big N decided not to charge for it is that to play it you have to have coins, which you can only accrue in increments of ten a day. This restricts how much you can play the game, and keeps you from playing marathon sessions. Not that I’m complaining that Find Mii II is free, I’m just unaccustomed to this kind of quality software coming from a company at no cost.

So, in short, if you have a 3DS and haven’t bothered with Find Mii, then give it a whirl. The biggest barrier to entry is the time it takes to complete Find Mii two times. After that, you’re in for a goofy romp through the kid-friendly countryside.