Review: Why You Should Play Paper Mario

Paper Mario is a turn-based RPG for the Nintendo 64 that combined the world and characters of Super Mario with traditional RPG mechanics and a light-hearted, entertaining story. 

Following Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars on the Super Nintendo, Paper Mario carves out its own identity by introducing a storybook aesthetic that would become the foundation of its own series. Characters look like paper cut outs and move around a 2D interconnected world featuring towns, islands and dungeons to explore. There are many locations to explore all over the Mushroom Kingdom filled with their own unique citizens and the story helps to flesh out the friends and enemies of the Super Mario world. 

The narrative of Paper Mario is fairly straight forward, but the writing and characters are charming and entertaining. The overarching plot follows Mario as he is on a quest to free the Seven Star Spirits imprisoned all over the Mushroom Kingdom by Bowser. While defeating Bowser and regaining the Star Rod is a simple premise, the game is split up into 8 Chapters that focus on smaller story beats featuring a host of different side characters that enhance the overall story. From helping the Boos defeat a seemly invincible monster eating their ghostly friends, to being caught up in a murder mystery in a town full of penguins, each chapter is full of memorable characters and amusing interactions.

The battle system uses turn-based combat with the twist of adding button combos and timing to attacks to increase damage or defend against enemy assaults. Regular and special attacks have a variety of inputs to help keep you engaged during battle. Mario can use his hammer to attack enemies on the ground, while he needs to use his jump command to hit airborne enemies. He can also use items and call on rescued Star Spirits to perform extra powerful spells. Mario is not alone during battles, as he is joined by 8 other party members across his adventure that all have their own unique moves to help out during fights. You regularly need to switch between all of Mario’s other party members to have the best advantage in battle.

The other characters also have unique actions they can use outside of battle that help Mario explore and solve puzzles during the overworld and in dungeons. You can also collect and equip Badges on Mario to improve his battle prowess. These include the abilities to increase heart points, increase attack damage, adding additional special attacks to your arsenal or providing you with hints to where hidden items can be found. The gameplay comes together to make an enjoyable adventure that keeps you engaged throughout the whole playtime. 

The soundtrack of Paper Mario is upbeat, whimsical and really fits each area of its world. From the cosy tunes of “Toad Town Theme”, to the darker beats of “Siege on Bowser’s Castle” and the energetic “Battle Theme”, there are plenty of memorable songs that will get stuck in your head as you explore the Mushroom Kingdom.

Paper Mario has an engaging battle system, interactive world and a colourful cast of likeable characters. If you wish to play a charming and fun RPG then you should play Paper Mario.

Review: Why You Should Play Kingdom Hearts 2

Kingdom Hearts 2 is an action RPG originally released for the PlayStation 2 and then remastered as the improved Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix version for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It continues the weird and wonderful combination of Disney characters with Final Fantasy characters from Square Enix’s flagship series.

Kingdom Hearts 2 continues the story from the PS2 original as well as Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and weaves it together with new and returning Disney worlds. The action combat is expanded with many new features, more depth is added to the story and the high quality voice acting and soundtrack return to deliver a more ambitious sequel that retains the heart and spirit of the magical first game.

The story is more complex this time, starting the player off in the shoes of a different character other than Sora from the original Kingdom Hearts. You play as Roxas for the first few hours as the narrative sets up lots of mysteries that are payed off many hours later near the end of the game. When you take over as Sora as the main protagonist, he once again wields his signature Keyblade and must travel through Disney worlds from classic films such Hercules, The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beauty and the Beast. He learns of the plans of the Organisation XIII and must once again team up with Donald and Goofy, as well as Disney and Final Fantasy characters to rid the many worlds of the Heartless and the new enemies known as Nobodies.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is an action RPG, with the ability to have full control of Sora in battle, with two computer controlled party members from both Disney and Final Fantasy. Expanding on the solid foundation of the original Kingdom Hearts, Sora can attack with his Keyblade, cast magic spells like Thunder and Reflect, equip special abilities and technique as well as summon Disney characters for powerful attacks to help in battle. New to Kingdom Hearts 2 are the Drive Forms that allow Sora to temporarily power up and take on new forms such as Valor Form to drastically increase physical strength while dual wielding two Keyblades at once or Wisdom Form to super charge his magical attacks as well as giving him access to long range attacks. Reaction Commands also show up in normal battles and boss battles to allow time-sensitive special moves Sora can execute to deal massive damage. Kingdom Hearts 2 allows the player a bigger range of abilities to make battles engaging and thrilling throughout the entire game.

The voice acting in Kingdom Hearts 2 is again high quality utilising Hollywood and veteran voice actors with many returning to voice their original Disney characters. The soundtrack is amazing as Yoko Shimomura arranges Disney classics and delivers more great original songs like “The Other Promise” and the theme of “Twilight Town”. It also follows up the vocal theme song from the first game “Simple and Clean” with another great track called “Sanctuary” performed by Hikaru Utada.

Kingdom Hearts 2 takes the fun and heart of the original game and builds upon it with new features and a more complex narrative. If you wish to play an action RPG with exciting boss fights, an emotional story and lots of Disney nostalgia, then you should play Kingdom Hearts 2.

Top 5 Mini Games in Final Fantasy VII

The Final Fantasy series is no stranger to Mini games or including scenarios that change up the main gameplay style. From card games, to underwater sports games, to even learning lines for an Opera performance these diversions added variety to the main narrative. Final Fantasy VII took these ideas to another level and added a plethora of mini games that were either ingrained in the main story or fun extras to earn rare rewards. Here are the Top 5 best mini games to distract you from taking down Sephiroth:

1. – Midgar Motorcycle Chase (G-Bike) –

After the climatic battle with Rufus at the top of Shinra HQ the party escape Midgar by stealing a truck and being chased down the highway by Shinra guards. Cloud follows on a motorcycle and the player is tasked with protecting the truck and slicing through the Shinra attackers. While initially part of the main game, the player can play G-Bike again at the Gold Saucer later in the game earing points for taking down other bikes.

2. – Snowboarding (Icicle Inn) –

After obtaining the snowboard and map from the village at Icicle Inn, Cloud rides a snowboard down the mountain through various routes before landing in the Great Glacier. The paths you take result in where you start your trek through the Glacier. Later in the game Snowboarding can played at the Wonder Square in the Gold Saucer and Cid and Tifa can be controlled instead of Cloud. The player can compete in time trials and unlock different courses to race on.

3. – Battle Square and Speed Square Shooting Rollercoaster (Gold Saucer) –

Final Fantasy VII had its own amusement park known as the Gold Saucer that housed numerous mini games itself. Each different Square of the Gold Saucer had different events to participate in, such as partaking in the medieval play on the date with Aeris, Tifa or Yuffie (you skip the play if you win a date with Barret). Although the biggest attractions are the Battle Square where you fight a set number of battles with increasing handicaps imposed upon you to gain rare items like Cloud’s Level 4 Limit Break; Omnislash and the Shooting Rollercoaster which plays like an on-rails shooter where you rack up point for hitting targets.

4. – Chocobo Breeding and Racing (Gold Saucer) –

Your first encounter with a Chocobo will usually be when you can catch one to ride over the Marshes and avoid the Midgar Zolom or when you must come first in a Chocobo Race to win your freedom from Corel Prison. After that you can either bet on Chocobo Races or breed your own and ride them to win items and rewards. Chocobo Breeding is extensive and later in the game you can breed different colour Chocobos that have new abilities like crossing rivers and mountains to allow you to explore the World Map and find extremely strong Materia in hidden caves such as the Knights of the Round Summon and Quadra Magic.

5. – Tower Defence (Fort Condor) –

Once you have access to Fort Condor you can help the villages defend the giant Condor that has makes its home above the reactor on top of the mountain. It is played again in the main game to stop the Shinra from gaining the Huge Materia. It plays like a strategy tower defence game where you buy different soldier types and place them on the field to defeat and block the advance enemy troops.

What are your favourite mini games in Final Fantasy VII and how do you think they will be updated in the remake?

Return to the Past: I Am Setsuna

Chrono Trigger is a game often described as a masterpiece, both in design and character, yet over the years only a few RPGs have taken direct inspiration from it. I Am Setsuna is a new RPG for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita promising to not only harken back to the golden age of RPGs from the mid-1990s, but to also wear it’s Chrono Trigger influence unabashedly on it’s sleeve.

 

The first thing you will notice is the battle system is almost directly ripped from Chrono Trigger; the lack of random encounters, the way the characters jump into position during battle transitions, the use of the ATB gauge, the 3 character battle party and of course the Combo attacks between party members. Well, if you’re going to copy the foundations of a battle system, Chrono Trigger is one of the best. The battle system also has some other tricks including equip-able items called “Spritnite” which are similar to Final Fantasy VII’s Materia system and some new additions such as the “Setsuna” gauge which fills up with each attack and grants boosts to characters actions.

While the game design looks like a definite homage to classic 16-bit era RPGs, the visuals are more modern. The artstyle has a sombre tone that builds an atmosphere that matches the games tragic narrative. The world is covered in snow and mountains, which adds to the dreary aesthetic and adds mystery to the adventure. The focus of the story is Setsuna, she has been chosen by her village to be the sacrifice to bring the world peace. Together with her safeguards and the mercenary Endir, who is initially tasked with killing Setsuna, the party set out to protect Setsuna on her journey across the land to her final destination. The narrative clearly sounds similar to Yuna’s pilgrimage in Final Fantasy X, so it will be interesting to see how it differs in both story and character development.

Other than the battle system and presentation, other design choices that relate I Am Setsuna to the games of the past are the lack of voice acting outside of battle, allowing the music to take centre stage. The soundtrack is comprised completely using piano and sounds both beautiful and haunting. The game also features a world map, fully traversable by foot as well as airship, and many villages and towns to explore and converse with NPCs. It certainly looks like it covers all the criteria from those old-school adventures.

I Am Setsuna is filled with influences and references to classic RPGs that many people love, the main question is will it have enough new elements to stand on its own and deliver an engaging and fantastic RPG experience. It sounds very promising and would be a great beginning to a new RPG series. So if you’re still mesmerised by these classic games and are keen to jump into a new adventure, you should be excited to play I Am Setsuna.

Why I’m Excited for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

Final Fantasy XII was one of the best RPGs on the PlayStation 2. Released back in 2006, it revolutionised both the Final Fantasy series and RPGs at the time. It modernised the turn-based combat system the series had been using into a more real-time hybrid, while still managing to keep the strategic gameplay and allow players the time to choose actions if they wished. It also featured stellar voice acting for it’s generation and was backed up by the wonderful world of Ivalice, which had appeared in many other Yasumi Matsuno games.

Now Square Enix has announced a remastered version for PlayStation 4 under the title of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. So why am I really excited to revisit Princess Ashe and her crew on their quest to gain freedom for Dalmasca?

Well the biggest new feature here for English speaking fans is this remaster is based on the updated Internal Zodiac Job System version of Final Fantasy XII that was never released outside of Japan. More than just a simple update, it made huge changes to the fundamental gameplay of the original by including specific jobs you could assign to each character to further define their personality and role in the story. There are also many tweaks made to balance the game and the combat systems. Ultimately it will play like a familiar, yet vastly different game to the original.

Other less dramatic changes involve updated visuals and character models, the ability to speed up the gameplay, the inclusion of both the English and Japanese voice tracks and the always welcome re-orchestrated soundtrack by the legendary composer Hitoshi Sakimoto.

So if you want to experience an RPG that’s gameplay systems were ahead of it’s time, both updated for returning fans and new players alike, then you should be excited to play Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age.

 

 

Final Fantasy VII Remake

The reunion at hand may bring joy, it may bring fear, but let us embrace whatever it brings. For they are coming back…

Almost 20 years ago, Final Fantasy VII was unleashed on the original PlayStation and burned itself into the hearts and minds of many people. It is still a highly regarded RPG and looked back upon fondly by the millions that played it. Whether it was the 3D graphics, the impressive (at the time) FMV sequences, the sensational soundtrack, the atmospheric and intriguing world, the lovable and iconic characters, the strategic turn-based battle system, the emotional and quirky narrative or just a combination of all of those things and more, few games have the immense reputation as Final Fantasy VII. Now it is going to be remade anew!   

 

Final Fantasy VII is my favourite game of all time and for years I often wondered what a remake would be like, honestly it brought equal parts excitement and fear. Final Fantasy VII is very much a product of its time, for both good and bad, but it’s what makes it what it is. By updating the game to modern standards it would no doubt look amazing… but, would voice acting destroy the beauty of the soundtrack? Would the battle gameplay be changed and the material system diluted? Would the narrative lose some of it’s more unique and bizarre moments? And would the lack of original creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu and Masato Kato that no longer work at Square be sorely missed? These… these were the questions that I could never answer.

Despite these reservations, I cannot deny my excitement for this remake. To revisit this world again and see it in a completely new light. The moody and sombre Midgar, the mysterious and eerie City of the Ancients, the wild and wacky Gold Saucer, the intimidating Junon, there are so many fantastic locations in Final Fantasy VII to explore. The details were exceptional on the pre-rendered backgrounds and they were really highlighted by the cinematic camera angles. The remake has a great opportunity to really breathe new life into this world and amaze the player with its scope and diversity.

I also can’t wait to see how they adapt the story, both the truly emotional and heartfelt moments, but of course the funny and weird ones just as much. Final Fantasy VII deals with some harsh and realistic themes. Aeris’ death scene, Dyne’s mass murder at the Battle Square and emotional exchange with Barret before his suicide, Zacks original brutal and stoic death, Shinra dropping the Sector 7 plate and killing thousands, juxtaposed over the heroes blowing up the Mako reactors and killing innocent civilians themselves and of course Sephiroth losing his mind and setting Nibelheim ablaze and walking through the flames.

In contrast it also has plenty of funny moments that really give it an identity all of its own. I hope we get to see scenes like Cloud dressing up as a girl to infiltrate Don Corneo’s Mansion, Tifa slapping Scarlet on top of the Junon Cannon, Red XIII disguised as a sailor walking on two legs (and Barret dressed as a marshmallow), Aeris and Cloud participating in the Play on their Gold Saucer date (or Tifa, Yuffie or… Barret), Cloud trying to get into the Shinra Parade unnoticed and especially Cid telling everyone to sit down and drink their God damn Tea!

Sure, changes will be made. The battle system will be changed to something more modern and adopt a turn-based, real time hybrid, some story segments will be altered, voice acting will be present and some of the mini-games may be cut. But based on the latest trailer Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura look to be staying as faithful as possible and aiming to recapture the vibe and soul of the original game. We will always still have the original Final Fantasy VII that we can go back and play anytime, but I am happy to embrace this reimagining of Cloud’s journey and be excited to discover everything all over again…
Besides, there ain’t  no getting off this train we’re on, so… Let mosey!

Why I’m Excited for Star Ocean 5 and the Series’ Evolution

Square Enix and tri-Ace have just announced that a new Star Ocean game is in development. It was thought “The Last Hope” was going to be the final instalment in the series, but now we are set to head out into the great star ocean once more… But first let’s look back how the series has evolved.

The Star Ocean series began on the Super Nintendo and featured real-time battles with an interesting space travelling story. It allowed different characters to be recruited on different play-throughs and debuted the “private actions” system which revealed additional backstory for characters the player chose to engage with. The first game wasn’t released outside of Japan until it’s remake on the PlayStation Portable some 10 years later.

Next came “The Second Story” released on the original PlayStation, again using the action-based battle system the series is known for allowing full control over the playable characters in combat. Taking place 20 years after the first Star Ocean, this game allowed the player to choose between two different main characters that affected the way the story played out. The series was making a name for itself moving into the PlayStation 2 era.

Set hundreds of years after the second game, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time moved the series into 3D and also featured fully voiced dialogue. The use of 3D graphics elevated the battle system to new heights and is seen now as the main drawcard of the series. Like the other titles it also has a vast item creation system and a compelling soundtrack.

Most recently the fourth Star Ocean game was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was actually a prequel to the entire series as humanity faced the aftermath of World War III. It added new facets to the battle system, like Blindside attacks and a four-character party and allowed the player control over their own spaceship.

So why am I excited for a revival of Star Ocean? Well the developers have stated that they are trying to capture the spirit of Star Ocean 3, from the logo design, to the art style. Hopefully this means more that just superficially and actually means they aim to harken back to the PlayStation 2 era of design for RPGs. More than a few RPG series fell in quality during the last generation and some have been completely missing in action. So if Star Ocean 5 can come back strong it might lead the way for other games to do the same.

Either way, I’m excited to take another Sci-Fi quest, travelling to unexplored planets and battling enemies in a fantastic new Action-RPG adventure!

 

Review: Why You Should Play Child of Light

Child of Light is a downloadable turn-based RPG released across various PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox consoles that features a beautifully unique art design and an engaging combat system wrapped up in a fairy tale narrative.

The first thing that will strike you about Child of Light is the magnificent art direction and animation. It really looks like a watercolour painting come to life. If you ever dreamed of a fairy tale adventure as a kid, it would probably look a lot like this. The dialogue is also unique as it is delivered in poetic verse, keeping the conversations between the characters interesting and fun.

The story follows Aurora, a young girl on a journey through the magical land of Lemuria to defeat the Dark Queen Umbra and return light to the world. The narrative seems ripped straight out of a fairy tale book, but there are a few twists and turns along the way. Aurora is a strong willed protagonist and she is joined by a colourful cast of characters along her quest.

The gameplay of Child of Light consists of some light side-scrolling platforming reminiscent of Valkyrie Profile and a battle system with ideas taken from Grandia. The turn-based battle system shows you a timeline of when actions with be performed, allowing you to time your attacks to interrupt the enemies onslaught. Each character has a skill tree that lets them learn new skills and abilities as they level up and you can also equip them with various element gemstones to add further bonuses to their stats.

The music is equally effective as the visuals in taking you away to the fantasy land of Lemuria, from dark caverns to deserted villages. Most of the tunes are gentle and melancholy, but gain intensity when required in big battles. The beautiful piano driven “Pilgrims on a Long Journey” is a highlight that echoes the themes of Aurora’s adventure.

Child of Light is a work of art, both in design and presentation. If you wish to play an artistic and whimsical RPG then you should play Child of Light.

The History of Dragon Quest

Before there was Final Fantasy… There was Dragon Quest. Taking inspiration from western developed RPGs such as Wizardry and Ultima, designer Yuji Horii’s original Dragon Quest game established many foundations of the console RPG genre. Collaborating with manga artist Akira Toriyama and composer Koichi Sugiyama, Dragon Quest has stayed fiercely loyal to it’s traditions resulting in 10 mainline games and a plethora of spin-off titles. Dragon Quest is so popular in Japan that most titles are released on a weekend or public holiday so not to effect school children and people going to work!

Published by Enix the first four Dragon Quest games were released on the original Nintendo Entertainment System and localised in North American under the name Dragon Warrior due to copyright. The Dragon Warrior name was kept all the way up to Dragon Quest VII outside of Japan. The NES instalments featured a fully explorable overworld, dungeons, a simple yet satisfying narrative and a turn-based battle system. Different to Square’s Final Fantasy series, Dragon Quest utilises a first-person view for combat which allowed focus on the detailed enemy designs. Dragon Quest I-IV were initially developed in collaboration with Chunsoft. Yuji Horii’s own studio Armor Project co-develops all the mainline instalments.

Moving onto the Super Nintendo, Enix released Dragon Quest V and VI in Japan only. Both titles wouldn’t make their appearance in English speaking countries until years later in remakes for the Nintendo DS. Again Chunsoft developed Dragon Quest V, but from Dragon Quest VI onwards, which was made by Heartbeat the series had a rotation of developers. Heatbeat would also go on to co-develop Dragon Quest VII on the original PlayStation with ArtePiazza (who themselves would develop many remakes of earlier titles in the series). The massive Dragon Quest VII was released in North America and the next few games would follow suit.

In 2003, Enix merged with former rival Square and Square Enix partnered with Dark Cloud developer Level-5 to release one of the most critically acclaimed and successful instalment in the series. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King released on the monumental PlayStation 2 and propelled Dragon Quest into a beautiful 3D cel-shaded world. The exploration was vast, the voice acting engaging and everything else great from the series was carried over and improved to make it one of the PS2’s best RPGs. Dragon Quest VIII also overhauled the dialogue in the English releases which has been carried over into the remakes of earlier games and new releases over the past few years.

Having found success with Level-5, Square Enix worked with them again to develop Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the impressive Nintendo DS. Originally planned to be an action-RPG, loyal fans disliked this direction so much that the idea was scrapped and a turn-based battle system was restored. Implementing an interesting take on multiplayer in what is predominantly a single player experience, Dragon Quest IX took the series to new heights and arguably it’s most popular era in English countries.

Unfortunately in the years since, remakes of DQ IV, V and VI were released on the Nintendo DS by Nintendo themselves to a less popular response in North America and the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) Dragon Quest X, as well as spin offs such as Dragon Quest Monsters have stayed in Japan only. With such a rich history of quality RPGs it would be a shame to not have any more Dragon Quest games translated into English. There is still hope as the action/ adventure spin off Dragon Quest Heroes is in development for 2015 on The PlayStation 3 and 4 and the next mainline instalment Dragon Quest XI has been confirmed to be returning to a traditional RPG on consoles. So if you are a fan of the series or love a great classic turn-based RPG, the history of Dragon Quest is worth a look into.

Top 5 Final Fantasy Summons

After first appearing in the 3rd instalment in the Final Fantasy series, Summons have been a recurring and integral part of the franchise. They can be known my many names, such as Espers, Eidolons or Aeons, but no matter what these magical beings can be relied upon in battle to deliver some impressive spells to take on the toughest enemies.

Here are my Top 5 Favourite Summons:

1. -Bahamut-
The King of Dragons, often the most powerful Summon obtained during the main storyline, Bahamut flies around and rains non-elemental damage against your enemies via his Mega-Flare attack. Although Summons are not used in the first Final Fantasy Bahamut still appears and grants the Warriors of Light more powerful classes. In Final Fantasy VII Bahamut even has different forms such as Neo Bahamut and Bahamut ZERO.

Best Incarnation – Final Fantasy VII

2. -Shiva-
The Ice Queen has appeared in almost all of the mainline Final Fantasy titles. Usually obtained early in the storyline, Shiva can be a powerful ally dealing Ice damage to your enemies. With Summons controllable during Final Fantasy X, Shiva is fast and has attacks that delay the enemy’s movements and she is very helpful in the initial fight against Seymour.
Best Incarnation – Final Fantasy X

3. -Alexander-
Originally appearing in Final Fantasy VI, Alexander is a giant castle-like robot that attacks with Holy based attacks such as Divine Judgement. During the events of Final Fantasy IX, the main antagonist Kuja summons Bahamut to destroy the Kingdom of Alexandria, but Garnet and Eiko counter it with Alexander. The two powerful Summons engage in a mighty battle with Alexander overpowering the Dragon King.
Best Incarnation – Final Fantasy IX

4. -Anima-
Being an Aeon, Anima is a dream of the fayth, specifically the mother of Seymour in Final Fantasy X. It is one of the most powerful Summons in the game and must be obtained by finding all the hidden treasures in the Cloisters of Trials. Anima is dragged from the underworld to deal immense pain to your adversaries.
Best Incarnation – Final Fantasy X

5. -Phoenix-

The eternal fire bird, Phoenix deals Fire damage to enemies and can revive your knocked out party members. In Final Fantasy VI Locke attempts to revive his lover Rachel using the Esper. but only manages it momentarily. In Final Fantasy VII you can pair the Phoenix material with Final Attack to revive all of your party even after an attack that would normally lead to game over.

Best Incarnation – Final Fantasy VII