All posts in Video Games

Being extremely busy kind of sucks.

Like millions of other people, I bought Halo 3 on its launch date, waiting all of 30 minutes at the local Meijer to get a copy. However, unlike many of those individuals, I only have small chunks of time to actually play the game. Everyday I play for about an hour a day, and every day more people I know call me telling me they just beat it. Unfortunately, I find myself quite a while off. I JUST finished the floodgate stage.

However, I will give a first impression. This game is the worthy successor to Halo. Halo 2 was decent, primary the multiplayer aspect. But, it felt more like a testing ground than anything else. There wasn’t really anything cool ore different that really made great. In fact many of the changes made to it actually made it feel less like a Halo game.

Halo 3 seems to be a bit of a mix of Halo and Halo 2, where they tried to take the best elements of each, and take the entire experience to the next level. When I first opened the package I dabbed at the normal difficulty to confirm that it was too easy. It is. Don’t play on normal unless you are trying to get gamer achievement points or something (since you get 125 for finishing each difficult level). I have been playing on heroic, and I have to say it is quite the difficulty ramp up.

The gameplay actually works out to be a lot like Black. Where you are constantly fighting entrenched enemies, running out of ammo, and get killed if you aren’t careful. And, then, there are the re-enforcements. That adds a whole new level of insanity to everything. On the road stage, I reached a point where re-enforcements just kept coming and I literally crouch walked while hiding behind stuff to walk pass the army of brutes to get to the next checkpoint.

I have been having a good time though. I’d say if Halo was a 10, and Halo 2 was 7, then Halo 3 is a solid 9 so far.

More later, after I “finish the fight.”

Nintendo: Crystalis
Runner Up: The Legend of Zelda

This was a tough decision based on the generally small collection of decent RPGs on the Nintendo. However, I find myself forced to narrowly selected Crystalis over Zelda for two primary reasons. First, it is more of a traditional RPG, since you can change equipment, level and up, etc… Second, is the sheer number of hours I wasted wondering aimlessly around the Crystalis world. The thing was once you figure out Zelda, it is pretty easy to blow through it. But, no matter what you do, Crystalis seems to take a while.

Game Boy: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Final Fantasy Legends 2

I wasted so…many hours of elementary school on this game. With the whole trading game, and other madness. That game itself was actually pretty easy, but the frustration came from trying to use the controls on that massive old game boy system. Ah…good, crappy times.

Genesis: Phantasy Star IV
Beyond Oasis

PS4 probably takes this slot, because it is the only Genesis RPG that was actually good enough to invest the time to finish. Probably one of the best things about this game was the macro system for the fighting. In most RPGs you spend a lot of time grinding, and grinding tends to involve repetitive and unrewarding battles. So, it is really nice to be able to script what you want to do in a battle, and not have to worry about micromanaging a battle with rabbits.

Super Nintendo: Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

One of the best things about the SNES is the wide array of top notch games in its library. I have probably played more RPGs for this system than any other. However, I still find the choice fairly simple to make. Chrono Trigger was a marvel of its time, and it still wonderful to go back and replay. One of my favorite features of the game is the ability to restart the game with your characters after you have completed the game. In fact, to collect all the items, you are forced to do so. Really, this game rewards, or at least reacts to so many things you do throughout the game. It really is a treat. In fact, or this list, I dare say this game is my favorite.

Sega CD: Lunar: Silver Star
Lunar: Eternal Blue

Lunar was the first traditional style RPG I played (only RPG to proceed it was Zelda). To this day it still remains one of my all time favorites. Now, maybe people get this game confused with the brutal remake for the PSX. And, while the two games have similar elements, they are two very unique experiences. In fact, I beat the PSX remake in the length of time it took me just to find, and trigger the red dragon’s liar in the original. Buried away in my old gaming stuff I still have had drawn maps I made of some of the more ridiculously complexes mazes in the game. The more I think about it, the more I want to dust off the old Sega CD and give it another go.

Sega Saturn: Dragon Force
Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean

I never owned a Saturn, so my experiences were fairly limited. I suppose it is fairly justified, considering that the Saturn was o weak when it came to RPGs, really the only two that I can think of off the top of my head are Dragon Force, and Albert Odyssey. Anyhow, I had a chance to sit down with this one for a while, and I normally don’t like the “strategy” RPGs, but this one was pretty fun, for what it’s worth.

Game Boy Advance: Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI

I’m sure plenty of people struggle with me not mentioned the infamous FF game in my SNES section. And, quite frankly it annoys me that people do. While FF VI is a great game, it definitely isn’t the best game on the SNES, and itsn’t even on the GBA. Final Fantasy IV is a great game, and underrated by comparison to VI. Really, the dwarf and the air ship, and random crap that make no sense, how can you beat that!

Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia
None

This was a touch call, I did not know if I should put this under Dreamcast or the GameCube, since they are both pretty great. But, since my buddy thought this game was so great that he let me borrow his Dreamcast with the game so I could play, it just seemed right to put it here. And, honestly, it was almost that good. And, while the story is not the best I have ever seen, it more interesting and rewarding than FF game I have ever played.

Playstation: Xenogears
Final Fantasy VII

Xenogears is really an amazing game. It has a good balance of story telling and game play, not to mention a boat load of really good stuff. I mean you fight with regular players, and mechs. The combo system is fairly unique, and enjoyable. Really, my only complaint about this game is that there is no way to accelerate the text that scrolls across the screen. And really, that is the ONLY thing that has kept me from playing it through again.

Nintendo 64: None
Legend of Zelda: OoT

N64 utterly sucked in this respect. Really, there are only two decent RPGs, LoZ, and Paper Mario. And neither or them are anything special. I know a lot of people like OoT, but I never really got into, probably something about the controller. Now that I think about it, the N64 Zelda game are the only ones that I never beat. The game glitched in the whale, so I quit there. And, MM just sucks in general.

Playstation 2: Pending
Pending…

I should actually pick it up in this respect. I did not pick up a PS2 until MGS3 came out. So I missed almost all the games for it. And, the PSX controller is just dreadful. So I have not felt any pressure to play any of these games. However, based on my other experience I would guess that either FF12, or Suikoden III would be my favorite. However, I shall reserve judgment and will update the post after I make a decision.

GameCube: X-Men Legends
Tales of Symphonia

XML may not technically qualify as an RPG, but I had been waiting for a game like that to come out ever since the original X-Men game came out on the NES. The free form style of play is quite enjoyable. And, I did not feel comfortable saying Tales of Symphonia, since I haven’t played it enough to make the call.

Xbox: Knights of the Old Republic
Morrowind

BioWare + Jedis = Amazing. The divergent paths, original story with a strong property and a dynamic and exciting combat system saved the console from an otherwise lack luster offering. If the sequel would not have been rushed, and released incomplete, I probably would have put it in the top spot, because of the expanse in breadth and depth, not to mention the sweet new jedi abilities. But, alias, the ending was abrupt and lack luster.

PC: Morrowind
Knights of the Old Republic

How many games can you beat in fifteen minutes, or fifteen hundred minutes and still extract an equal amount of enjoyment. Really, with all the expansions and what not this is a pretty kick ass game. It completely lacks all the social elements of regular RPGs, but sometimes it is nice to just lock out the mundane activities of other characters.

Wii: Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess
Pending…

Originally, I started playing TP on the GC, and it was awful. At one point I just quick playing, because it was just time confusing and not even fun. However, shortly after I picked up a Wii, I picked up TP again (after renting it), and discovered how amazing it became with the different control scheme. It really freed things up and made the game much more enjoyable.