The game we’ve personally been waiting on for years now is finally coming: Total War: THREE KINGDOMS! Dong Zhuo’s power grows, and from the ashes of the Middle Kingdom, heroes of chaos will rise.
Monthly Archives: January 2018
Retro Review: Final Fantasy IV
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
I wanted to get back into the swing of things with something a little more relaxed. And today we’re going to talk about one of my favorites of all time. At some point, I plan on coming back and taking off the rose-colored glasses, but for now, let’s revel in something good and pure. Fun fact: Final Fantasy 2/4 (heretofore known as 4) was my very first SNES game. I was living with my Uncle, and he rented me a SNES for reasons which I cannot remember, and I picked Final Fantasy 4 as the game I wanted to play for the weekend. I didn’t get my own SNES for several years (around the era of Donkey Kong Country/Final Fantasy 6) so this was a hell of a treat. This was around the time of the Nintendo Power issue that featured the game (and coincidentally, the night I told my mother that this is what I wanted to do with my life) and I was hooked for life.
It was a story that compelled me and drove me to want to see more. It wasn’t my first RPG, but it was very close. If I had not received Dragon Warrior 1, it would have been! In my first playthrough, I only got as far as Cagnazzo (Cainazzo in America) and did manage to beat him. But it took me the whole weekend to get that far. Every accomplishment made me feel proud like I was really unraveling this story and all of its secrets. There’s a surprising amount of twists and turns even in that short amount of time. You find out your government that you’ve been serving is corrupt, you wield a blade of darkness and evil, turn to the light, help an old sage find his granddaughter, mourn her loss, and meet up with a vast cast of characters, even in this first couple of hours. Though another fun fact, my first completion of the game (around middle school, thanks to Rohner for letting me borrow his copy), I had about 79 hours. Nowadays, I can get to the end-game in probably 12 hours if I really push.
Final Fantasy IV is a game of learning experiences. It doesn’t “teach” you what to do, but you learn by making mistakes. Going to the Underworld to visit one of the many caves for a sidequest? It won’t tell you that you need to cast Float on the party, but you’ll learn from the many damage tiles, and the enemies that cast “Quake”. The game won’t tell you that Odin is weak to lightning per se’, but there are hints that allude to it. You learn by failing, and it’s pretty damn wonderful. From casting Wall during the optional Bahamut fight, the order of the CPU battle and more, having a game that doesn’t flood you with stupid, annoying tutorials is pretty great. You get to immerse yourself completely in the world. No “Hey, you can press X to do this” nonsense.
This is also the first RPG to use the ATB (Active Time Battle) system, where you wait your turn and pick your action in real-time. This is one of my favorite systems, even if I almost prefer turn-based simply because I multi-task a lot. But for sheer fun, ATB is where it’s at. There is a whole host of issues with this game though. I love it, but it’s flawed, deeply flawed. When you pause in the SNES version, the game keeps on going. You can’t take actions, but the enemy can. I went to eat with my family and had to pause during the Asura fight. I came back to find that I had died and lost something like an hour and a half’s worth of work because I didn’t save. There are pieces of equipment that don’t trigger their special effects, or the Avenger glitch (does not update stats and leaves you with whatever you had before, just to name one bug), the Lunar Whale Glitch (When leaving the Lunar Whale, entering Lair of the Father and leaving, you can lose the Lunar Whale. It will be on the map but if you’ve walked around too much, you can get lost forever as you have to trace your steps back). There is a host of bugs and bad translation errors, but it still makes the game very enjoyable. Hell, some of the bugs are even useful, like the Doom Bug/Item Duplication Glitch.
The story is what really sold me though, so let’s go back to that. It hearkens back to the traditional “get the Crystals, save the world” gimmick, but it’s so much more than that. On the moon, the evil Lunarian Spirit Zemus is corrupting people, and bidding them do evil acts in order to resurrect his full power. Golbez, his agent is also seemingly capable of doing this. But at the start, it’s just Baron Castle’s king bidding Cecil Harvey collect the crystals for an unknown purpose. It unfolds like an onion! It has a love story (Cecil and Rosa), betrayal, jealousy, death. Lots (and I mean lots) of main characters either perish or seem to. Whether they do or not, I won’t say. It’s love and loss, redemption after a life of darkness, and how there is hope, even in the darkest moments. It’s a beautiful story, well told, even with the garbage censorship and translation errors all too common in the 90s.
This was also the first game I played with such a diverse cast. Instead of generic characters like in Final Fantasy 1, these characters had depth, reasons for being, reasons for doing what they did. It was really quite wonderful. Even the villains had interesting bits. Rubicante for example had a moral code and refused to fight the party when they weren’t at 100%. So he’d full restore you both times you fight. He also learns a lesson from his defeat. He realized that going alone isn’t going to work, and he had to have the help of the other Four Fiends of the Elements to succeed. Dr. Lugae is an amoral crackpot that ruins a kingdom for the sake of his own scientific research. He kind of reminds me of a slightly more evil Professor Farnsworth. Even your own party members aren’t pure, innocent and always fighting for good. Edge fights for revenge, Rydia lost her village to the main character Cecil, Palom and Porom are really redacted at first. Tellah wants the forbidden power of Meteo to avenge his daughter. They really run the gamut of emotions without it being stale or poorly written.
Restore the Light: 5/5
This was an RPG well-made and a story well-told. Final Fantasy IV came to America at a time when RPGs were neither popular nor well-received, but it did well anyway. I’m a little biased I’ll admit because it came at a time when I desperately needed it. One of the reasons I play RPGs is that I loved reading, and this was an interactive story for me to take part in. At this time I was moving far too frequently to keep friends, especially pre-internet days. Despite this, it’s a game I can pick up and play anytime and be happy. I might even do it on Bottom Tier sometime soon. It had a variety of remakes, and they were all solid (even the PSX one). If I could get a version that combined the visual quality of the PSP version with the bonus content of the GBA version, that would be heaven. It even received a solid 3D remake with voice acting! That one was considerably more challenging, but all around still held true to the spirit of the game despite all the changes to the mechanics/gameplay. If you want a gripping story, moments to make your eyes water, and your heart soar, you owe it to yourself to play Final Fantasy IV. The ideal versions, in my estimation, are SNES (retranslations if you can find them), PSP, GBA (inferior music but fun extra content). This gets high marks for really being where the RPG revolution really began in America. A constantly rotating party of interesting characters, tons of secrets, the story, the music, everything about it is endearing.
Call of Duty WWII – The Darkest Shore Trailer
Nazi Zombies are a threat in the Call of Duty WII universe. Check out the trailer for The Darkest Shore, part of The Resistance: DLC pack 1 arriving on January 30.
Fallen Legion+ Review
by Jason Parker (Ragachak)
Fallen Legion+ is definitely an interesting beast, in that it’s two games in one. The first screen you are show features two characters: Princess Cecille (who is the main character in Sins of an Empire) and Legatus Laendur (of Flames of Rebellion). Picking one of them sets you on your path to the main menu, where you can play the respective title, or go through the “one life” mode. You’ll still be able to revive the Exemplars, but if your main character dies, game over. There’s also a handy New Game+/Epilogue, which is great because it’s not really that long of a game. The two games share pretty much the same assets, and though the stories do intersect, because their goals are definitely polar opposite, either choice is a good one. Worst case, it offers replayability in that you can play through one story, then the other, to see their particular perspective. Having multiple perspectives and morality tales in an Action RPG is a pretty nice change of pace. Whether you want to rebuild a crumbling empire riddled with corruption, or bring it all down and reshape it in your own image, you can’t really lose here.
You pick your stage on an open map you might find in Final Fantasy Tactics, but unlike FFT, you don’t have to fear random encounters. You also have a morale meter here on this screen, but it never seems very clear what makes it rise and fall. In battle, you occasionally have to make morality-based choices which confer upon your team a variety of buffs or items. They don’t really tell you much about the characters being affected, however, so you have to balance what’s “good” or “right” versus what buff/item you might need. Sometimes they give a bonus and also a debuff (such as +attack, -defense), for the duration of the battle. I like this idea, but I never really knew which choices were good or bad, because I didn’t know who Cecille was really with or against and had no time to think about it. Sometimes after these choices in a stage you’ll unlock new potential buffs, which is also pretty awesome. Not all of these stages are battles, either. Honestly, the “dialogue” stages take just as long as the battles do. I expected after the talking was done, that maybe I could go into the towns, interact with people, maybe even buy stuff. However, all it does is reiterate the chatter (but you can speed through it now at least).
Now it’s battle time! You pick a team of Exemplars (dead spirits that rise to serve your cause) with a host of different stats and weapons. You’ll have ranged fighters, tanks, melee units, and you can unlock more of them as you play. Each of these characters is bound to a button on your controller/keyboard (and your MC is also bound to one, so three Exemplars + MC). Here’s where I had a serious issue with the game. Half the time the game shows the Playstation buttons (the game was originally a Playstation title) which is fine; I use a PS4 controller. But the other half of the time it showed Xbox Buttons. Now, this is not really difficult, because I know the button layouts; it’s not rocket science. But it can be jarring or frustrating in a pinch to see something you aren’t used to seeing. It’s not bad, but it is definitely a serious oversight. Each Exemplar has its own health bar, and if they die you can use the Revive spell to bring them back. If you don’t get them revived before the enemy starts attacking again, you lose! There’s also a “limit break” style mode, which can appear in various situations. When this occurs you can simply spam attacks and spells at your leisure til it wears off. I was only able to trigger it a few times, personally.
This is at its core an action RPG mixed with turn-based combat. Each character has a circular gauge that shows how many attacks you have built up (think Valkyrie Profile). Hitting a button once will fill a circle below you with their image, and simultaneously set up their attack. If an Exemplar’s attack is on the last circle, it activates their “Deathblow”, which is a special attack with a variety of special effects, like lowering enemies attack/defense or doing extra damage. So while sure, you can button mash your way through this game, it’s much smarter to consider things a bit more carefully and figure out what Deathblow you need when. There are also more powerful Deathblow abilities, that require 6 or 8 circles on the gauge, and if you have one selected, the other Exemplars Deathblows will also require that many (but will have a “+” next to them and I believe they hit harder/are more effective).
The main character will also have their own powers. For example, Ceceille uses her Grimoire to cast spells, from Reviving the Exemplars, a Healing Spell, and an Attack Spell. As the Exemplars attack, her mana recharges, and you can cast the spells again. You definitely need to learn the defensive button, the Block. Holding it down lowers the damage you take, but if you can time it perfectly, a Perfect Block nullifies the damage and can weaken/stun the enemies. But as they can clump together with multiple enemies on screen at once, it can be very hard to see the start of their attack animations. Hell, I’ve seen it happen when I block early. It doesn’t seem very exact.
There’s also no visual clue on screen how long these fights are, and the “decision-making” parts happen seemingly at random. Fallen Legion+ could definitely do with more clarity there. Whatever the trigger, when it’s time, a brief story blurb pops up on the screen, and three cards show up, each with a choice and a reward. There’s a timer, so pick fast! The combat is easy to learn, definitely fun and tactical, but it would be much better to know how many fights I’m going to endure and when. At the end of the battle, you’ll be graded on how you did, and this is where you’ll see new Deathblows, characters, and/or traits. You’ll also get Gemstones here, which you can equip in the main menu, which offers a plethora of stats to Cecille or her Exemplars. So will you need to re-equip as you decide to change your party.
The Grimoire Eats What?? 3/5 (Good)
This is where the game kind of falls off for me. That’s all you do. You endure a side-scrolling battle stage, move on to the next one, or you do a story stage where you just read/listen to the dialogue. Adjusting Deathblows, Gemstones, and Team Makeup is the most you do outside of battle. Now, I enjoy the gameplay a great deal. The graphics are pretty appealing, and the attacks are awesome. It’s definitely worth it for the price. For 40 bucks, it’s a solid story with two characters, two very different reasons for acting, New Game+, and a challenge mode. I do feel like a player who is new to the series will definitely get their money’s worth here. It’s certainly not without its flaws. Fallen Legion+ is fun, but I do wish there was something more to it. The core of the game is very strong, and I like the story. A lot of very serious moral implications are made and the story is pretty damn heavy. But I wish it felt like more than “story stage” or “battle stage” during the gameplay.
Note: A game key was provided for review purposes.
Civilization VI: Rise and Fall – First Look: Georgia
Tamar the Great presided over the Georgian Golden Age and was the first woman to rule the nation of Georgia. She’s coming to Civilization VI: Rise and Fall!
Monster Hunter: World Elder Dragons Trailer
Monster Hunter: World showcases the Elder Dragons arriving in the New World, with a free update this spring! MH:W launches on January 26, 2018.
Dragon Ball FighterZ Goku Black Character Trailer
Dragon Ball FighterZ reveals more gameplay for Goku Black, one of the many playable characters in the upcoming title.
Fantage Inc
Fantage Inc
Injustice 2 Enchantress Trailer
Injustice 2 reveals Enchantress, coming to Early Access on January 9 for Ultimate Edition, Ultimate Pack, and Fighter Pack 3.
Raiders of the Broken Planet: H.I.V.E. Character Reveal
Raiders of the Broken Planet releases H.I.V.E., a new character who infects her weapons to inject enemies with pheromones.












