Tag Archives: RPG

Dark Cloud 2 Review

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It’s definitely been quite a while since I got to play the original Dark Cloud. It was a pretty fun game but one that had some mechanics I wasn’t crazy about like the breakable weapons and building. I always enjoyed being in the endless dungeons but the parts outside of that were a bit weaker. Well, Dark Cloud 2 definitely improves on the first one. I will say that building still isn’t my favorite part to say the least but weapons are no longer broken in the same way. They can run out of energy so you have to give them a potion but you never lose a weapon and I can tell you that this is an absolutely huge deal! A serious game changer all the way through.

The game’s story is also rather ambitious. You start out with the main character Max trying to get into the circus when a really odd evil clown shows up asking for the necklace that he got from his mother. Max barely escapes into the sewers and then manages to leave the town. The rest of the world is…empty. It turns out that his town is the last one in existence and the only reason it wasn’t destroyed with the rest of the world is because the villains need his necklace. So if he turns it over…then its going to be the end of everyone he knows. Fortunately he runs into a time traveler named Monica who is here to save the world from its imminent fate. It’s not just the world that is in danger but all of history as the villain can time travel as well. Can they possibly stop him?

So this is a full RPG story all the way through with a lot of twists and turns around every corner. The game handles everything very nonchalantly though which can always be pretty fun. Max just takes it all in stride and never reacts as hard as you would expect. The heroes are going out there and fighting off god level threats and he’s still got his wrench and determination. It’s one of those games where it would be fun to see this as an anime because in theory these are just average joes fighting crazy high level opponents.

The game really has two main gameplay styles. First is the combat in the dungeons and then you have the overall building aspect. I’ll go into the building first since that one to me is definitely trickier and will take a lot of time. So basically one of the elements of the plot is that the villain is destroying the “origin point” of various landmarks that are critical to the heroes. So you have to rebuild them with parts that you obtain from every level in the game. Building involves buying the required materials and then putting them all over the map. Here’s where most of the grind comes from because you need money for the materials and you get a lot of money by selling materials but then you’re missing the materials for the next item. Rinse and repeat over and over. It’s a rather tricky cycle and I sold important stuff a few times by mistake before I realized what was up.

If you put something in the wrong spot, it takes a few steps to remove it and replace. Would have been good if you could have just picked something up and moved it. Part of me suspects that there has to be a way and I was just doing it wrong. You’re given hints as to where each item should go but there’s going to be a ton of trial and error to get it just right. Also you won’t see all of the hints initially so you have to keep playing levels to get there. Occasionally a level will have two exits so you need to hit both of them.

As for the combat, that is still the meat and potatoes of the game and it’s the really fun part. It’s sort of like .Hack where you will enter a dungeon with many different floors and have to clear them all. You do get to save between every floor which is incredibly useful. I would have really been in a jam without that because I did die a fair number of times. It can be difficult to gauge the enemy range and then you die from a powerful hit. I do want to say though that the gameplay is rather exciting because of that. You’re certainly never bored because the game isn’t too easy but it’s also never unfair. When you die you know that it really was your fault because you got greedy and over extended.

The level up system is one of the toughest parts of the game. Unlike a traditional RPG where you level up with XP, you instead get weapon XP when you beat an enemy> This levels up your weapon which allows you to give it orbs to absorb to increase its stats further. This is another manual process that takes a while but get the stats high enough and then you can upgrade the weapon. Rinse and repeat as much as needed. So I took it at face value and kept on doing that, but it’s actually better to level a weapon up to level 5, then sacrifice it to your main weapon to get much bigger stat boosts. I didn’t find that out until the final boss….so it took me a little longer than it should have but in my defense I don’t know how you would guess that from the start.

As a result there are tons of different methods towards building yourself up with the best armaments by the end of the game. Go with whatever seems like the best bet and then you’re all set. Some routes will take more effort than others but you’ll still be able to make it. The final boss is incredibly difficult because you have to fight close to 11 bosses back to back. Make sure you bring a ton of health items and boost your attack power as high as possible. I had to go back and get just about every health power up possible with my attack upgrades and it was still close.

This game is listed as being 50+ hours for the story and I can see why. I beat it sooner than that but there is a ton of content here. There are also side missions and a post game so there is a ton of bang for your buck. That’s a good thing since the game tends to be on the expensive side. There are a ton of different mechanics into the game that I barely even touched on like golf, fishing, etc. so the developers really went out of their way to make sure there was a lot to do here. Even the gameplay is rather deep but I will leave you to experience that all for yourself. Mainly the thing to focus on here is that the game is just great and excels across the board. Hopefully we get more games in this series at some point. I don’t mind if they drop the building aspect and focus purely on the dungeon gameplay though heh heh.

Overall, Dark Cloud 2 is an improvement over the first and a really solid game. I feel like many people have not gotten to play this one since it always felt a bit on the obscure side but if you can find it in stores then I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s really a good bit of fun all the way through and is a lot more expansive and all encompassing than you might think. The building mechanics can be a bit of a challenge but once you get the hang of it then you’ll be fine. It just takes a lot of time unless there are some controls I ended up missing on.

Overall 8/10

Super Mario RPG Review

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This is a Mario game that I’ve wanted to play for many years. It’s not every day that you get a big Mario RPG after all and with both the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi titles at a bit of a standstill right now, it was the perfect timing for a remake of this game to get out. It definitely lives up to the hype without a doubt. The only knock against it would be the short duration as it’s noticeably shorter than all of the other Mario RPGs I’ve played but it’s a lot of fun.

The story starts with Bowser kidnapping Peach so Mario goes in to save her. Unfortunately his rescue attempt is cut short when a mysterious villain known as Smithy shows up and ends up taking her. Mario must now grab the legendary stars in order to save the cosmos and also rescue Peach once more. He is assisted by a legendary cosmic being inhabiting the body of a toy named Geno. Bowser even decides to help a bit and Mario has another being helping out with his magical abilities. Mario has assembled quite the squad at this point so that’s pretty impressive but will it be enough?

Right off the bat the game feels a lot more like a classic RPG than most of the other Mario titles. You actually have to equip weapons/armor/accessories like a Final Fantasy title and so you will be switching these out constantly. A cool little element they added here is also that your gameplay will change a bit on the timing depending on what you equip. For example when you are attacking in this game you have to press the A button at a specific time in order to deal maximum damage. If you mess up on the timing then you will dish out less damage and you will also take more when an opponent hits you. The instant where you have to press A will change depending on what weapon you have equipped. So the increase in attack power is slightly countered by having to adjust your timing.

Each successful hit gives an extra boost to your energy meter as well. Once you reach 100% then you are able to use a super attack which does tremendous amounts of damage. Trust me it’s a really good thing to have because those abilities even deal tons of damage to the bosses. This element of timing also does help to make the game a little more skill based. If you can nail the timing each time then you will naturally find the game to be a lot easier than most because you’ll literally be dealing 50% more damage and taking 50% less so it’s a huge ripple effect. If you’re a more casual player not able to hit the timings then that ramps the difficulty up as well.

As for the length, the game is around 10 hours give or take a bit. That sounds a lot more like a platformer than an RPG right? Well yeah that’s definitely true, this is pretty short and apparently it’s quite a bit shorter than the original game. I’m guessing certain areas were cut out, loading screens were optimized and in general the game is supposed to be a bit easier. Unless anything significant was cut out, I’m fairly okay with this. For example even just speeding up the animations during battle can shave off significant amount of time away from a game so if that’s something that was focused on then it was well worth it.

The game has auto save enabled as well as quick travel. There are a ton of quality of life features that this game has and I thought that was pretty impressive. You never feel like you’re wasting time sifting through menus or anything like that. The only part that can be long is the celebration when getting a level up and I can let that slide since leveling up is always fun. The enemies may not give you a ton of EXP but you don’t need a lot to level up either so it ends up balancing out really well.

Another token to how much fun this game is, is that it’s easy to binge. I played the game for 7 hours straight yesterday which is part of how I managed to beat it in the span of a day. (Friday-Saturday) Playing for that long at one time will definitely do that to you but it wouldn’t be possible with a weaker experience. The story is definitely compelling and the script is good. I’d really like to see more Mario games like this that actually have a full comprehensive plot. There’s a lot to enjoy all the way around.

The graphics are definitely really good and I was always glad to see the full cinematic cutscenes. The game really shines there and it also does a good job of giving everyone something to do. In a way it’s a shame that Luigi missed out on this adventure because I’m confident that they could have actually made him a compelling character here. We really need more Mario RPGs like this so I hope one day they make a return. The Paper series is starting to make a comeback so that’s a good series to have as well but a non paper dynamic would also be really nice to have.

The soundtrack is a little more on the forgettable side though. While the game excels with its colorful cast of characters and a bunch of really fun new villains to the series, the music that appears isn’t nearly as memorable. You just tend to forget the tracks right away. They aren’t bad by any means but the Mario series has everything set to a super high standard and it just couldn’t match that. Ah well, we got the Axem Rangers here which is enough for me to overlook anything like that.

Overall, This was definitely a great game all the way through. I’d have loved it to have been longer but ultimately it’s about how much fun you had during the experience and this one was on point. There is also some kind of post game adventure to be had here which adds onto the replay value. It’s good enough where you get a solid bang for your buck either way. This was really the biggest hole in my Mario collection up til now so it’s good to finally have that closed. I’m not even sure what the next biggest title I’m missing would be at this point, maybe one of the Olympic crossovers.

Overall 8/10

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review

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Golden Sun has definitely been a really fun video game series. This is currently the last one so the series has been shelved for now but hopefully it returns. While this doesn’t quite beat the first two titles, it’s nice to see how the characters have actually aged. Isaac is an old pro now and it’s time for the next generation to step into the spotlight. Do they have what it takes to really save the world here?

The game starts off with one of the new characters making the big mistake of trying to fly a glider and he crash lands in the forest. Matthew and his team go to save this guy and then Isaac tells them to find a legendary feather. The rest of the game is basically about trying to find the feather and every time the heroes get close some kind of obstacle gets in their way. You can probably guess that they’re pretty frustrated by the end of it but what can you do right? Naturally this wouldn’t be a full RPG experience without some danger though so then the end of the world approaches due to the dark eclipse.

The gameplay is solid as always with a lot of depth to it. Aside from the usual turn based combat system one of the things that makes Golden Sun stand out is how the Djinn are used. Each character has to equip them and you can decide to activate them which opens up the door to summons or keeping them set which increases all of your base stats. There are over 80 Djinn in the game and you have to have each character carry an equal amount. If you have 17 though one character can have 5 while the others have 4 but if you get 18 for example you can’t have one holding 6. That would just be too unbalanced.

Another thing to consider is based on the types of Djinn you have a character hold, their class will change. There are numerous classes for each character and they all have different abilities and strengths so you want to keep those in mind which can be difficult. As a result I would say the game can be more difficult than it appears. For the most part I didn’t have a problem but that changed in the final boss where I really had to train. Ultimately I wasn’t able to defeat him until I reached level 99 while online I see people beat him as early as 45. It really comes down to the amount of Djinns you have and the summons.

If you don’t have a good setup then you will be absolutely crushed. I played this one more like a standard RPG so my lineup wasn’t exactly amazing. Still, I do think I put up a pretty good fight if I do say so myself. At the end of the day RPGs really give you a lot of ways to build your team and I’d say that’s one of the good parts about them. You also get time to really get used to the characters which is another big advantage. At the end of the day I thought the characters were all pretty solid. The emotions system could probably use a bit of work since it never seemed to matter which emoji you used when talking with the characters but it’s a fun idea.

The villains also have good designs. They may show up a little late into the game but fighting them was fun. The overall length here is pretty good as it took me around 30 hours to complete the title. Throw in a fairly meaty post game and you really have a lot of bang for your buck here. Definitely a lot of replay value here to be sure. Some of the Djinn and summons are missable though so I’d say to keep that in mind when you’re going through the game.

The only real issue I have with the title is a quality of life element. There is no way to quick travel in this game and I feel like the minion spawns are frequent enough where it does get a bit annoying. Particularly when you are in the boat and your movement speed is cut in half. You have to fight a ton of opponents since it takes 2 turns to run away in most cases. Not really the ideal setup when you think about it. I was surprised because this just feels like an RPG staple so I was waiting for that the whole time. I was lucky that the final area was a good grinding spot because otherwise for example it was a super long walk back to get to the item shop. I had to beat the final boss without any potions or things like that. I would have gone back if needed of course but it wasn’t exactly my top option.

The graphics are definitely really good. I’d say a lot of time was put into them and we also get full cinematics at times which was really nice. Especially for the DS it’s always impressive since a lot of games still didn’t have those. The soundtrack is also good even if it isn’t quite as impressive as in the first two games. Basically whenever I compare this to the originals it doesn’t quite hold up but if you just talk about it as its own RPG then of course it’s still great. Ideally in a future game we could have Isaac play more of a central role though.

Overall, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is definitely a great game. While the story may not be as intense as the first two titles, it’s a fun way to end things off. It makes sense in a way that the stakes may not be as high with Isaac’s shadow looming in the distance although I’d say a fix to that would have been having him show up in the climax. In theory he could give the villain a pretty solid fight but you have him lose due to a cheap shot or something. The game opens with quite a few loose ends. I don’t know if they all get resolved in the post game or something like that but if not at least it gives more hope for a sequel. We can’t let the Golden Sun adventures end here!

Overall 8/10

Earthbound Review

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It’s time to review one of the most iconic Nintendo RPGs of all time. Everyone has heard of this title and for good reason. They really pushed the envelope on this game with the amount of crazy visuals and just having a generally weird world around the main characters. Games like Undertale would end up continuing in this same light. Without Earthbound you can argue that many games would not exist. It really has aged quite well.

The story starts with a meteor crashing in Ness’ home town Onett. He goes out to check it along with another boy named Porky. Porky ends up succumbing to the dark side and serving the dark lord Giygas while Ness is tasked with saving the world. He will need several allies including a genius, a martial artist, and a psychic expert. Can these kids really stop the end of the world though? Giygas is a being that exists across dimensions and all of time with seemingly unlimited amounts of power. That’s not an easy opponent to overcome but Ness won’t give up!

This is a game where you really need to cling to everything that you are told because it always ends up being a lot more important than you would have guessed. Sometimes you have to talk to a character multiple times and other times you have to go back to an old town to grab an item you may have missed. The game is quite vast and I’m sure I didn’t talk to a bunch of people/witness bonus content. The dialogue is all a lot of fun here. It has that absurd comedy type angle where crazy things are happening and people don’t have much of a reaction to it which is a type of comedy in itself.

The writing is quite excellent. I like how your father will call in from time to time to check on you and give you some money to get items with. It has a very “Are you winning son?” vibe to it and it’s great to have supportive parents here. Your Mom is always around to give you a fresh pizza and recover your HP as well. Your sister even contributes by giving you items and a place to store extra ones. These are little elements that just help make the world feel a lot more fleshed out.

There’s also a lot of room for fun theories about different characters and what’s going on. You could really make a whole franchise out of this which is why it’s a shame that Nintendo hasn’t kept up with making a bunch of Earthbound games. There is so much potential to them and I’m sure with modern graphics and everything they could really make this massive. This game took me close to 30 hours as it is. In general a nice advantage of RPGs is that the long story really lets you connect to the characters.

One of the playable characters doesn’t show up until you’re over 20 hours in for example which is really impressive. I had actually forgotten about him for a while even though in the intro you get to name all of the characters so in a way you know that they’re coming. It’s just a long wait and you’re busy doing a lot of other things in the meanwhile to really keep track. The final boss is super iconic of course and then you’ve got a lot of other creative enemies and even full concerts in game. Yes this is an ambitious title.

At times it can be easy to get lost or not know what to do next. Fortunately their are hint shacks around. The NPCs aren’t generally very helpful so otherwise you would have been in a pretty tough spot. Also some areas are very well hidden so even when you’re following a path, try to keep note of which path you didn’t check in case you have to use it later on. As you progress through the game you unlock some quality of life features like teleportation which is definitely worth the wait.

If I have any issues here, I would say one gameplay mechanic doesn’t age too well. This one uses the old Final Fantasy 2 type of mechanic where if your character dies they won’t come back to life even at an inn. You have to specifically go to the hospital to revive the character and that’s a lot of work since those are rarer to come up against. Again this is a quality of life feature that comes in later on once your character learns how to revive someone. That’s near the very end of the game though so it takes a while.

Also your storage is very small per character so you will run out a lot. This means you will have to constantly toss items out to make room for new ones or pay the storage fee to put in some extra back at home. I think they could have been more generous on that front. It’s only a mild annoyance to have to go in and toss stuff since you can only do this one at a time but still it’s something where a sequel can improve a bit.

The soundtrack is definitely excellent, there are a lot of really good tunes you will hear as you go through the adventure. The graphics are also really solid for its era. Like I mentioned earlier the game is very creative here both in the enemy designs and the effects. It gets a bit trippy with Giygas and the game is just so far ahead of its time that I’m sure the reactions to that boss must have been crazy.

In terms of replay value, there is a lot in terms of talking to people and such but there isn’t really a post game. Regardless the main campaign is long enough where that isn’t a problem. Additionally the game can be rather difficult at times so you will have to stop and train at different points. Don’t think that you will just be coasting by and the whole thing is a breeze because you will be in for quite the surprise!

Meanwhile the ending of the game is really intense. I don’t know if Mother 3 actually follows up on this or not but it’s really a high note. Yet another reason why Nintendo needs to license that game already. It would be so much fun to play through! The music gets rather tense and for a split second you’re wondering if the game is actually going to just keep on going. To date Nexamon is probably the only game I can think of that keeps on going after the long credits play and is the most realistic fake stop. I’d like to see more games do that and it only works in an RPG type game like this because you can have it trigger after 20-25 hours which would be realistic to end with.

Overall, Earthbound is a great game all the way through. It excels in every area and makes for a really fun experience. The gameplay is really smooth and the world is just so large. It feels like they crammed in a toooooon of content here especially relative to the average SNES game. It’s extremely impressive and the fact that it still holds up to this day is also something to be proud of. I would highly recommend jumping into this game as soon as possible. You will be having a lot of fun all the way through.

Overall 8/10