Final Fantasy XIII-2

Let's not kid ourselves.  I was not the biggest fan of Final Fantasy XIII when it first appeared, but a second play through really made me appreciate the game.  And even my first inclinations with its sequel (in demo form) were positive.  So how did Final Fantasy the Thirteenth Part 2 fair?  Hit the jump for the full details...

inFAMOUS 2

Listen, if you liked inFAMOUS, I have very little notion why you wouldn't enjoy inFAMOUS 2.

Cole McGrath, everyday-courier-turned-electric-conduit continues his adventures, now confronted with a monstrous beast which has destroyed whatever New York is being called these days.  The beast sucks all of Cole's powers away (how convenient) and Cole and friends head to whatever New Orleans is being called these days.

The games has learned its lessons from inFAMOUS prime.  If nothing else, the issue with chain-link fences has been addressed.  In fact, the environments are much more strongly involved in gameplay.  Combat remains nearly identical: you shoot lightning out of your hands, your powers increase with time, etc.

The other "lesson learned" is that blast shards are increasingly easier to find, which is to say that it is still a bit of a pain in the neck, but not the 14-month WHERE-IS-IT endeavor that inFAMOUS presented to me to finally Platinum the game.

This time around, morality is linked to which of the two ladies in the game you'd like to ally yourself to.  The crazy, chaotic Nix or the straight-laced Kuo.  Much as women are keen to do, there are betrayals and hurt-feelings and "come-rescue-me" moments.  But this is a video game, after all, not a treatise on feminism.

The choices remain as unsubtle as ever.  Save the orphans, burn the orphans, etc.

But the game is certainly fun to play and enjoyable to complete the quests that the game presents.  The difficulty amps up a couple times, especially with certain bosses that you experience.

The simple end to this review is this: it's like inFAMOUS, only twoier.

Skyrim

Skyrim, or more completely, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues the story of imprisoned-and-then-freed destiny-bound heroes of Tamriel, this time located in the frigid north, titular region: Skyrim.

The game was dense, as was the first draft of this review, which I have subsequently broken up into 5 entries (seriously).  Today's post looking at the main story and game mechanics, and subsequent posts dedicated to all the shit that got done in the name of collecting the sweet, sweet platinum trophy.

In media res being a bit of a gameplay-must these days, you start the game as an imprisoned man/woman/whatever on your way to the chopping block - the head chopping block - when you are serendipitously saved by the arrival of a fire-breathing dragon.  Amidst the chaos and fear of behading/being eaten by a dragon, you select your character's gender, race, and appearance.  Unlike the fourth Elder Scrolls entrant, you do not select a sign, have specifically anointed skills, or any of the other things that made that game have an astounding 743 sextillion (a lot) character builds.

The undead are a frequent encounter.

While skills continue to increase as you use them, the leveling system has been redesigned.  Now, gaining progress in any skill will move you towards a level-up, wherein you can increase your health, magicka (magic health), or stamina (swinging axe health).  Upon gaining a level, you are also able to select a perk from one of the skill areas, granted you have reached the requisite experience with that skill.  There are 251 perks in Skyrim, of which you may feasibly select 81 (essentially the "level cap").

I decided to put my perks into archery, sneaking, light armor, and Illusion-magic, which you think might have been setting myself up to be a total badass ninja, but I still chose to confront most conflicts at high velocity while spamming the attack key.

Combat is relatively unchanged from Oblivion, with the main exception in that you can wield magic while simultaneously wielding a weapon, or wield two spells at once.  Spells have also been pretty well nerfed, only dealing a set amount of damage and not able to be customized (a la Oblivion).

So, fresh off of not-being-killed-by-a-dragon, you are given the same mind-numbing freedom common to the Bethesda games: you could literally do anything.  Only a few story-related areas are blocked off, and to be honest - it's nearly impossible to find them, as there is just so much else to do.  The game improves upon Oblivion's compass system, and exploration begins to be "just... one... more... area..." and before you know it, you've mapped most of the locations in Skyrim.

Oh hey girl, lemme shout at you.

Anyway, it just so happens that you are a Dragonborn, a rare 1%-er, born once in every few generations who can absorb the souls of dragons and focus those souls into powerful Thu'ums, or shouts.

While dialogue with townsfolk may lead you to believe that dragons are rare sights anywhere in Tamriel, the reality is that the whole place is lousy with dragons.  And they are dragons: they eat townspeople and their steeds, devastate farms and hovels, and will fuck you up if you aren't equipped with enough healing potions to ward off the inevitable crispy feelings of being burned to death.

One dragon, in particular, plays your chief nemesis.  His purpose is straight black and white fantasy: he destroys worlds.  It's almost refreshing to meet a bad-guy who is really bad.  No tortured childhood.  No on-the-fence attitude.  Dude just wants to obliterate existence.  I can respect that.

The game is great, though the story does have some pacing issues, common to the robust world games like Skyrim.  And that's just the main story.  It was definitely worth the 80 hours I sunk into it, and definitely worth a platinum run.

Always worth it.  Always.

Demo: Warp

Warp.  Cute alien dude.

Warp, available for consoles and on Steam, had a nice little demo wherein you play a tiny alien escaping your human captors.  Your ability?  You can warp forward a small amount of space (through walls, if need be) and into small items and ... unfortunately for them ... your human captors.  While the demo was fun, it wasn't knocking my socks off, so I recommend a pass on this one.

Note: despite the immense cuteness of the alien, the game introduced itself as having "blood and gore," and I understood why after I warped into a human and moved around, causing him to explode.  Oops.

Flash Game Friday: Politricks

Just Pres. Obama - doing what he does.

Sometimes you need a launch game, and sometimes that game can be loosely based on a economic crisis in the United States.  But in a launch game, you solve the problem by being on a pogo stick.  This is the very fiber of why flash games are awesome stretches in human logic.

So here's Politricks.  It's silly fun.  The upgrades are what you would expect to find in a launch game (go further, jump higher, use a kite, make more supporters appear).

If you're into launch games, this is a political based no-brainer.  You don't even need to understand "legitimate rape" or "struggle snuggles" or "tax documents."  Just click and twirl and rake in the dough to save Uncle Sam!

FINALLY

Flash Game Friday: Nuclear Plant

The monsters are coming.

Nuclear Plant is the tale of a war ravaged society trying to nurture the single last plant alive in order to save humanity.  You play an unnamed scientist/badass who must resurrect the plant.  Unfortunately, you are constantly swarmed by mutated creatures who are trying to impede your progress.  Why?  Because it's a flash game!

The game play is half platform-y, half point and shoot.  You control your character by using the arrow keys (or the ASWD), but aim and shoot using the mouse.  Uniterrupted time at the Laboratory is used to build your skills (e.g. more health regeneration, better accuracy) and killing mutated monsters yields cash to buy new guns (from - where?).

It's fun, and short, though it took a couple of game overs until I got the hang of it.  Enjoy!

Demo: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Now that I can - in confidence - say that I am completely done with Final Fantasy XIII, I decided to go a round with its sequel, for which a demo was available on the PSN.

The story takes place a few years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, and you play as Serah (the sister of Lightning, FFXIII's version of Cloud) and a mysterious young man named Noel.  In the demo, you play in Chapter 2 - which is - you know - some stuff has already happened, so it's hard to really say, but Serah and Noel seem to be time travelers.

Anyway, in the demo you have to beat this weird, shifty giant thing - a paradox - who is struggling into this part of time.

The battle system is mostly the same as FF13.  Serah and Noel can enter one of six roles each for a series of paradigms that the player can change in battle.

The big new add is that while battling, you can collect monsters who join you as a third party member in battle.  They also level up and develop new abilities as you battle.

Just to clarify:

Story involving time travel?  Check.
Improved FF13 based paradigm shifty battle system?  Check.
Collecting monsters, Pokemon style to fight alongside you?  Check.

DRESSING UP SAID MONSTERS IN CUTE HATS?

Yeah, the game kind of has it all.

Moogles?  Wow - talk about a forgotten IP.

Like most FF sequels: it is certainly less serious than the original (see above hats), opting instead to spread its wings and give innovation a try.  It's also learned a lot from its predecessor and is decidedly not linear.  In the demo, I was given side quest missions from NPCs.  NPCs!

Anyway, for the low price of $19.95, buying the game seems like a no-brainer.  But I've got some travel coming up, and frankly, I nabbed Skyrim and I'm really itching to give it a try...

Things That Are Ingots, Things That Are Trophies

Flash Game Friday: Sky Garden

Sometimes, you actually have to do work at work, rather than pretend that you are a much beloved video game blogger, with users dedicate themselves to your every movement.  So, sometimes you have to work - and you're looking for a Flash-based distraction that will calm and relieve your stressful work life.

The graphics are simple, as is the gameplay.
Simple and calming.

Enter Sky Garden, a simple puzzle game with music that is so calming, it blends you slowly into a Friday afternoon coma.

The concept is simple: click every tree.  The tree releases a stream of water in all four directions as far as possible.  The streams built from clicking the trees will destroy any tree they touch, so the game casually introduces you to the strategy of using streams to block future streams.  Then, like any good puzzle game, new elements are introduced.  Seedlings require water to be born into trees.  Ice halts your streams' progress.  And lava slowly spreads, killing your trees.

I strongly recommend this game for its stupendous ease to pick up, play, and complete.