cabbage5k2

Alright, thank you for explaining Shulk and Sora .

Depends on who you ask truth be told. I've only played the first game, and thus I will only describe that one. The plot can be borderline absurd at times, mostly because of its habit of not explaining quite a bit of crucial knowledge directly, but instead depending upon the player actually exploring the myriad of scripts and stories given to you throughout the game (stuff such as bestiaries, plot reviews, hopefully you understand what I'm saying here). If you don't explore it, then the plot's going to be nothing more than blithering nonsense for the most part (just understanding the whole relationship between l'cie and fal'cie can be complicated enough without knowing what Ragnarok and Orphan's all about). But if you take the time to read it all (and time it'll take), it then transforms into entertaining nonsense. But ultimately, the plot is serviceable, given that you understand what's going on. The characters... are actually not as bad as many people say. Yes, Snow is stupid at times, Hope is an annoying twerp for at least a little while (he gets better as the game progresses, and Vanille is quite strange. But Lightning's actually not a terrible character (from what I remember anyways), and Sazh's actually pretty awesome, and balances out the entire team with some well-placed comedic relief, as well as a decent character story between him and his son. Really though, they're also mostly serviceable, and I found not really as bad as people say they are. The shining stars of this game, really, are the gameplay mechanics and the soundtrack. The soundtrack, simply put, is excellent. Listen to Born Anew, Will to Fight, Fightning Fate, The Sunleth Waterscape, and so on, and to me at least, I hear... well, excellent music. Perhaps not to the calibur of Uematsu's finest, but quite good regardless. Now gameplay-wise is where a lot of this game's notoriety arises. A simple demonstration, instead of me explaining this for easily paragraphs upon paragraphs, which would surely bore everyone, is just this classic Jon Tron video: Okay, to be fair, I mostly just posted it because it's hilarious . But yeah, the most common critique is that the game is overly linear, without appreciating the irony that many of these people who say this probably at least like Final Fantasy X, a similarly linear game (if anyone wishes me to expatiate upon this point, I'll do so, but for the sake of whatever concisement is still possibly, I'll skip doing this for now). To be fair, it is extremely linear, with at most a few branching pathways existing, all of which converging upon the same point. And although Final Fantasy X may have been linear, most other Final Fantasies haven't been, especially XII, which has the opposite problem of being overly open at times. I think one of the key reasons why Final Fantasy X may not have been as critiqued upon this situation to the same severity is because of the plethora of minigames and secrets that lurk around those select few pathways. Although much of this content is locked up until near the end of the game, the games regardless does reward you for exploring those same pathways and backtracking at certain points in the game. Final Fantasy XIII... doesn't even allow backtracking, much less having cool secrets hidden around the place. Now, the gameplay itself is quite different from any other Final Fantasy game. It follows the ATB battle system, in which a character is able to perform actions as the gauge fills up, but how it implements it is quite different. For starters, one only controls the lead character (the one you control on the field), and if that character dies... that's it, game over. Thus leading to the dilemmna, how to make that character survive each battle. That's where the paradigm system comes in. The paradigm system essentially allows you to switch the party's roles on the fly, allowing adaptation to swiftly changing battle conditions. There are six roles of which one needs to remember: The commando class, which is essentially the warrior class, capable of dealing the most damage, the Ravanger class, which is the black magician class, the Medic class, which is the white magician class, the Sentinel class, which is the guardian class, the Sabateur class, which deals with dealing abnormal statuses upon the opponent (slowing them, poisoning them, reducing their defenses, etc.) and lastly the Synergist class, which deals with enhancing yourself and your allies (with protect, haste, shell, etc.). Now, although the base system seems simple enough, there's more complexities behind it then this. For example, one can only retain a total of six paradigms, or total combination of roles, that one can have upon entering any battle. Thus, just having six medic combinations will severely weaken your ability to deal damage, while having only Ravanger and Commando combinations will reduce your ability to sustain damage. But there's even more to it than this. There's a secondary system behind the paradigm system that truly makes it work, called the stagger system. Staggering an enemy truly reduces their defenses to zero, and allows the team to deal massive damage to them, most of the time defeating them with quite the awe and excitement (I'm being biased here, forgive me ). The trick is that you essentially deal two types of damage in this game, physical and magic. Dealing magic damage allows the stagger bar to increase and once the stagger bar reaches a certain percentage point, the enemy will become staggered. However, the stagger percentage will decrease swiftly, thus forcing careless players to start the climb all over again. This is where physical damage comes in. Attacking an enemy physically will barely increase its stagger percentage, but will severly slow the stagger percentage's decline, thus allowing you to start attacking from a higher percentage after healing or applying status changes. Thus, one needs to balance keeping one's party alive, while dealing with both status changes and keeping the stagger bar from both decreasing too drastically and keep it raising upwards to reach the stagger point to retake control of the battle and/or calcify it. When you unlock everything, this battle system is truly entertaining, regardless of its limitations. The problem is... the linearity effects how much one can do in the battle system. At first, one only has a few roles, and a limited number of paradigms and partners from which to choose. And things don't truly open up until Chapter nine... which is about ~15 hours into the game. Thus for those 15 hours, you're dealing with a neutered system, where you can't experience the full utility of this system. And if the story and characters don't connect with you, those 15 hours can feel like a drag upon your enjoyment of the game. The map doesn't truly open up until Chapter 11 either (I didn't reach this point by the way), thus there isn't even that to enjoy before this point. Thus, for most people, this game became a game of patience before the openess began... and many people just gave up. A shame, but honestly, so did I . Now, there are two minor points upon which to touch. The first is the Crystallvarium. If you've played Final Fantasy X, then this system is just a redress of that one, except there a separate grids for each role that the separate character has unlocked instead of just one that all the characters share. If you haven't, the Crystallvarium is essentially the avenue through which you level up. Each enemy or boss gives you points (not sure what these are officially called ), more depending on how well you do in battle, which you then spend within this grid to earn new moves and gain more stats. The Crystallvarium is just as linear as the game proper, though, and is story limited. This means that there are level caps that are unlocked as one enters a new chapter or beats a boss character. The other point is eidolon fights. I hate these, and these are the reasons I quit this game the first time around. I don't actually quite recall how these completely work though, thus for the sake of a more unbiased review, as well as preventing myself from raging here, I shall end this review/overly verbose explanation here. Tl;dr: This game's gameplay is good, the story's tolerable, the soundtrack's under-rated, the linearity's kind of bad, and eidolons are a terrible mechanic that should feel bad about existing and sit in the corner with a dunce cap on as I light them on fire... even if I forgot why I hated them so much

*The sunrise this morning... overly idyllic, yet relaxing just the same, the morning dew dripping gently onto the fresh, soft ground, a slight wind flowing the through the grass causing it to sway softly, creating an angelic sound, a soft whistle from a subtle child. Thomas stayed up through the entire night, alongside Rufus, although the chocobo's now nuzzled nearby Thomas, its head curled ontop of Thomas' lap. It wasn't truly anticipation, as Thomas didn't expect the newcomers to truly be all that much different from the rabble with which Thomas is already familiar. It wasn't dread either, for the same reason. Perhaps it was curiousity, not necessarily for the new children, but rather for the ships themselves. Would they lend any clues towards the outside world? Clearly something had to be out there, he refuses, mostly out of obstinancy, to believe that the twin islands can retained themselves within a perfect bubble. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, Thomas has yet to find a single anomaly amongst the substances of these towns.* *Thomas gently rubs the right side of Rufus' head, his feathers flowing softly through his fingers. Rufus' right eye opens slowly, its black eye shining gradually more brightly as its eyelids open. Rufus yawns, and begins to rise its head, the rest of his body still curled in front of Thomas' lap. Thomas gently smiles, scratching Rufus' chin. Rufus chirps happily, and rises upwards, its body now completely up. As Rufus stretches its wings outwards, Thomas rises from the ground, patting Rufus' right side underneath the stretched wing, the underside being mostly cooled by the morning air now.* "Morning Rufus! Today's the big day... hopefully anyways... wonder how mad the old folks are? I mean, I did rush off in a frenzy on them, right in the middle of dinner. Mum's going to be pissed... then again, when isn't she? Besides when she..." *Rufus begins to rub the right side of his head upon Thomas' left shoulder, causing Thomas to be knocked back a little bit.* "Hey boy! I get you, I get you, I'll apologize later. But the pier's not far from here, let's at least see the ships for a moment, then run off before anyone notices us. That sounds good right?" *Rufus chirps happily before placing its wings downward. Rufus then bends downwards, causing the grass to krinkle somewhat as Rufus tucks his head inwards.* "Thought you'd agree to that." *Thomas climbs up on top of Rufus' back, causing the chocobo to chirp gleefully before spurting off into a sudden sprint, causing a streak of white to appear in its wake. Thomas barely manages to hold onto his red felt hat, although an iridescent white feather flies off of it.* "Slow down already, sheesh. Going to make me fly off, and sudden crashes aren't a part of my daily agenda thank you very much!" *Rufus, to Thomas' misfortune, bears little heed to Thomas exhaustion as it continues its dash towards the pier.*

Name: Thomas Age: 17 Gender: Male Appearance: here Parent(s): Floe (White Mage) and Daewoo (Black Mage) Abilities/Powers: Given his mixed blood between a master of white magic and a master of black magic, one would think that Thomas would be an extraordinarily skilled magician. Except his skills are sub-par at best, unable to use many of the most potent spells without excessive exhaustion or lack of control, a very dangerous situation for any magician. Hence, he sees himself as a disappointment for this. However, he’s actually surprisingly decent at summoning magic, even if he’s only capable of summoning two deities at the moment. Theoretically he has the capability of summoning Shiva… but given his lack of control over his magic, most of the time it comes off as a blast of icy wind instead of summoning a humanoid. Yes, it’s that bad for him. However, he’s mastered summoning a chocobo of white feathers by the name of Rufus, a name Thomas gave him when he couldn’t think of one. Rufus is an extraordinarily swift chocobo, capable of moving quicker than the average chocobo. It’s said that the initiation of Rufus’ dash seems like a white blur, hence being somewhat difficult to track. However, Rufus is also weaker than the average chocobo, with its headbashing ability quite both, and its carrying strength mostly limited to Thomas and maybe one or two companions without Rufus’ speed decreasing considerably. Rufus’ beak has a similar penetrating ability as the average chocobo though, but given is relatively poor strength, it’s not the most useful feature. Rufus’ most unique feature is his tears. They possess the ability to heal moderate wounds swiftly, and at least begin the healing process for deeper wounds, including, curiously, internal wounds without any external entry points. Thomas is also a… swordsman. Possibly, maybe; if he doesn’t stab himself… he may not be the worst swordsman of all time… maybe third worst, forth on a good day. Personality: Thomas is a smart-ass, simply put. He tries to play off as the cocky, self-confident cool kid who says all the right things and gets all the girls. He comes off, instead, as an arrogant, incompetent fool. Hence he’s often times tossed around the school, both figuratively and literally, which compounds his already feelings of incompetency and disappointment. His parents certainly don’t help this either. His mother, Floe, overly dotes on him, acting like a helicopter parent, which only compounds the bullying he occasionally suffers from. His father, Daewoo, merely shakes his head at his fatuity. Thus, oftentimes his closest friend is Rufus, whom merely nuzzles upon him and listens, sometimes the only being that actually does. Thomas fears how he would be without Rufus… Bio: Thomas is… a remarkably average student… on a good day. Otherwise, he’s a mostly incompetent person who somehow has managed to float through the school year after year while being mostly awful at his magic capabilities, his combat capabilities, his knowledge, his wisdom, hell, the fact he remembers to breath sometimes is remarkable enough. However, he’s actually been curious about something lately, about what else is beyond Fatefaire and the Forgotten Isles… surely something is out there, but what? Oh, and actually doing good in school, for a change, would be great as well. Here's the character portraits for Rufus: here Daewoo: here And Floe: here Also, this is the first time I'm RPing here, so I'm not sure if my character fulfills all the rules here or not .

No problem .

Is Dragon Quest Joker Terry's Quest or something of that sort? I swear there was a Dragon Quest game with that name translated in the west... believe it was on the DS, but I think I'm wrong about that. That being said, I think any future translation plans depend upon both demand for the Dragon Quest series, as well as what else Nintendo currently has planned. I don't have confidence in getting the 3DS Rocket Slime game, but perhaps a future entry on the NX could be a possibility, but who knows really.

I would accept Gilgamesh before Bartz if they needed a Final Fantasy V entry, especially because he's probably the most recognized and recognizable character from that game. That, and he's bloody awesome

Fix the eidolon fights in the first game (seriously, such utter rubbish ruining an otherwise actually good game), then I'm game. Never played the other two, so this would be a good introduction for me .

Actually, the 3DS version of Dragon Quest VIII is an extended edition, including new playable characters , as well as new dungeons and cutscenes, as well as new monsters to fight, although I'm not sure how extended the monster arena is. New Playable Characters (careful of spoilers) New Dungeon (spoilers definitely here, including a boss)

Hopefully they'll still translate Dragon Quest XI themselves, but if that one fails... there goes any chance of ever getting another Rocket Slime game again. Here I am, still waiting for the translation of the 3DS entry, but that'll probably never happen ;_;. Ah well, at least the two 3DS ports are still being translated, thanks to Nintendo .

Early beta footage here, back when this was known as Super Smash Bros Universe. Unfortunately, Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff have both since been cut, same issue as the Ice Climbers sadly

Can we post pairings from other Square Enix properties, or is this limited to Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy in terms of Square Enix?

Riku and Kairi are definite improvements here. Just a slight bit of work needing to be done on Mickey, luckily for everyone, Square will be working on this game for some time yet, so not even this is final.

I was more making a reference to his past trolling than anything . But yeah, I agree, probably is beginning to annoy the company at this point; a trailer will come out whenever they're ready to show it anyways.

And Hashimoto's just enjoying himself as we speak .

The best way through which to decide my decision will be to expatiate because I like to see myself type excessively to explain... okay, I can't lie, I'm bored and like to see myself type a lot. Can't damn me for honesty now . Ahem, anyways, let's begin. The story in Kingdom Hearts I is a bit more simplistic in terms of total plot. Simply, an ordinary boy is given an extraordinary gift to save the world from an imposing evil. Simple right? Not necessarily, as there are several villains within this tale, all of whom are trying to accomplish their own goals. And this is where I have to give the first game some credit, the villains really do all have an actual point of being in this game. Maleficent and company are trying to gather the seven princesses of heart of create and then open the final keyhole to release an unfathomable darkness upon the worlds, and they actual do share correspondence with each other (however brief such a gathering may be). Hence, when you see said villains within the arc of the game, you actual gain the feeling of stopping them from accomplishing a quite devious task. As we all know, the true villain was ultimately pulling their strings, Ansem, seeker of darkness, in order to not only create the final keyhole, but use it to open Kingdom Hearts, which would unleash a gigantic stream of darkness. An imposing villain, who corrupting Sora's dear friend Riku, hence making both him and you a purpose towards beating him, not only to save the worlds, but also to save your friend from his clutches. Now, in Kingdom Hearts II, there are more villains running about the place, with Maleficent doing... something in this game, alongside a group called Organization XIII. Now, to make things simple without giving myself a headache, Org XIII simply wants to create Kingdom Hearts through a different methodology, mostly accumulating enough hearts to physically create it instead of unlocking it with the final keyhole creating through the princesses of heart. The problem is that unlike the first game, in which the goals of the villains intercrossed in a way that made defeating each set of them worthwhile to both you the player and Sora, in Kingdom Hearts II, many of the villains you defeat just feel as if one is going through a checklist when they're defeated. Maleficent... doesn't accomplish anything in this game... at all. She actually does create the final keyhole... okay, to be fair, she only gathers the princesses of heart, with Sora himself actually being the one who creates it through some wizardry, but she's the one who actually gathered them upon that place. In II, meanwhile, she mentions gathering the heartless to create an army of them... but nothing really comes from it. It feels half-baked in other words, filler where more pertinent content could have been implemented. And in terms of the Disney villains involvement within the plot of II... there's really none. To be fair, they're only symbollically involved in I, but that involvement still allows them to be part of the actual plot of the game. In II, they have little to no correspondence with Maleficent (only Oogie Boogie does if my memory serves me correctly), and with her partner Pete... well, he influences event so insignificantly that he might as well only exist in the first visit to Hercules Colliseum (where he actually does serve a purpose). Thus, half of the villains are already just checks to check off on the "things Sora must do because he's Sora" list. Now, the Organization itself... while probably the most interesting thing in this entire series... about three or so of the members don't really do anything in this game. Xaldin merely chases after the Beast for the entire game, and really doesn't appear anywhere else, thus serving a similar role as that of... well, any of the Disney villains sadly. Demyx... yeah, I'm really not sure about him to be honest , but he doesn't do a lot either (but it fits his character simultaneously). Lastly, Luxord is just criminally underused, he doesn't even appear until more than half the game is done, and then he's... just another check mark . Now, for the other ones, Xigbar only encourages Sora to defeat more heartless from what I remember, but I could be missing something here. Saix kidnaps Kairi after Axel tries to kidnap her. Axel is an entirely complex character, but he strikes me as being more of an anti-hero in this tale, thus can't be included in a discussion of the villains fairly (although I'll include him later). Now though... Xemnas wins to terms of best villain. It took me replaying this game in the KHII.5 to realize this, but he actually manipulates Maleficent to a more cunning decree than Ansem did. He makes it where she thinks she's winning over the organization by gathering the darkness and sending the army to conquer the worlds when he fully understands and comprehends the power of the keyblade. Thus, he develops his plans solely around Sora defeating these heartless that Maleficent and company mindlessly toss around in order to create Kingdom Hearts and thus allow the Organization to become perfect hosts for Xehanort proper. Thus, this is truly long-term planning on his part, and it's quite subtle as well. That... and his battle music is awesome. There, that's the true reason . Yeah, I've been at this long for a while now, thus I'll continue with this another time. The verdict? Both... have their advantages and disadvantages really. Kingdom Hearts I balances out the villains roles, where even the most minor villains, with a few exceptions (Clayton, the heartless in Wonderland, etc) actually have an impact upon the overall plot of the game (however symbolic that may be), while many of the villains in Kingdom Hearts II are just generic fights tossed on top of mostly generic copy-paste movie plot lines that make visiting these worlds a chore (more on that in a future post though). Meanwhile, Kingdom Hearts II has Xemnas, a quite devious villain who happens to have both great fights and a great theme. So yeah, it's pretty balanced so far. Next up, if anyone wants to read more of my babbling, will be the heroes of these games. Edit: Just realized how long this was, apologies about that. And please correct me on any mistakes if you see them, haven't studied the plot in great detail for quite a long time now, so there's probably errors in here.

It's a back and forth thing. One day at a time for them. That, and I'm a hopelessly romantic optimistic fool, so there's that to take into consideration as well .

And nothing is new under the sun on this day. Square Enix back to their old ways again