After a busy time of the year I saw a friend go online on a chat program I use. I decided to talk to here since I didn't in quite a while. After some small talk she said to me that she had to finish lots of games, mainly some japanse games on a hacked console. My jealousy level was rising till it came up as a brilliant question for this week.
As a gamer and fanboy of several titles such as Kingdom Hearts and the "Tales of" series, I am quite sad to say that I cannot own and play every copy of a game since some of them aren't published in Europe. I would love to play the Final Mix versions of KH 1 & 2, yet I will never be able to do so. Some "Tales of" games never reach Europe at all. Trying to import them is useless since:
1. I cannot read japanese.
2. My console isn't able to play it.
Now, I can understand that some games might not sell as well in Europe as they might do in Asia. But what do you think? Should all games be made International, even when taking the costs for a publisher in account?
For real... I really want access to this fight! WY U JAPANESE ONLY!
THE Protagonist from FF X, some would say. Although you mainly play as Tidus in this game, summoner Yuna has a big impact on the story. She is, after all, the one to defeat Sin and save Spira! She is very devoted to her summoner role and is willing to sacrifice everything for her world. You could even call her naive at some times.
Yuna is first seen in FF X when you arrive in Besaid. Here she soon gets her first summon called Valefor.
Throughout the game Yuna is mainly used as a healer. She starts in that part of the sphere grid. Here she learns spells such as cure, dispel, esuna and holy. After this it is recommended to send her down the other mage path and let her learn other spells such Fira, Blizzard, Thundaga and Flare.
For her to utilize these spells she carries a staff with her. She can equip all kinds of staves, mostly equipped with magic boosting capabilities. Her Ultimate weapon is called Nirvana, which puts her into overdrive faster and make all her magic abilities cost only 1 MP!
Yuna's overdrive in this game is called Grand Summon. As a summoner Yuna can summon magical creatures, each one having their own overdrive gauge as well. Grand Summon lets a summon start with a full gauge, releasing a devasting attack on enemies.
Besides being a good addition to your party with her abilities. Yuna is also capable of sending the dead to the realm of the farplane, where they belong.
After the events of FF X, Yuna becomes a sphere hunter. She wears different clothing and is no longer a summoner. Instead, she can take on all kinds of roles with the use of a dress sphere. She starts out as a gunner. Over the course of the game she gains all sorts of dress sphere, changing from a white mage (again) to even a berserker! Her ultimate dress sphere is Floral Fallal. The other 2 party members are replaced by a huge flower that engulfs her. Once the flower opens Yuna is dressed in white and her hair also turned white. This mode is a spellcaster mode, being able to inflict status ailments, heal, and cast offensive magic.
Yuna's secret dressphere, the mascot, is a Moogle. It carries 3 dresspheres in 1 mode. She can use all here warrior and darkknight abilities in mascot mode. She can also use several moogle attack, mostly curing and buffing the party. The mascot dress sphere also has the Ribbon ability. It costs a whopping 999 AP though, so save up!.
Although Yuna can be described as naive sometimes, she always wants to learn and search for the ultimate solution. Rather sacrificing none in the process. She is quite emotional which may increase her will to fight drastically, or take away her will due to grief or something similar.
Fun Facts! Yuna...
... has Heterochromia. It means that her eyes have different colours.Her left eye is Blue, her right eye is green.
... is half Al-bhed. To much dismay of Wakka once he finds out.
... and Tidus were the game couple of the year 2009. This is futher empowered by their names. Yuna means Moon whereas Tidus means Sun in Okinawan
... grows a HUGE ponytail in 2 years. Which is not humanly possible.
... can hold her breath just long enough to play a blitzball match of 5 minutes
... has 8 summon in total.
... almost married to that bastard called Seymour!
Name: OSU!
Devoloper: Peppy
Year: 2007
Platform: PC
Genre: Music Game
Due to my new job, I did not game as much as I wanted to this week. Due to the job I don't have HOURS of spare time, and half an hour of one game isn't appealing at all. If I have a couple of free minutes, I spend them om games which don't require a lot of time. Music games like these are the way to go then. Out of the few music games I played, this is my favorite. It is called Osu!
The concept of Osu! is actually quite cheap, since it is copied of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! A music game for Nintendo DS, also known as Elite beat agents. Osu! is different in the aspect that you can download a lot of songs to play with, whilst Ouendan only has about 20 predetermined songs. Osu! also features multiplayer, although Elite Beat Agents also featured that with a maximum of 4 players, Osu! can support 8. If you don't desire multiplayer, you can just play alone, but your score will always be ranked. You can see in what place you would finish if it was multiplayer. Or just compare your overall score with the world. Finally, in Osu! you can change skins of the overall layout. This isn't possible in Ouendan!.
Osu! can be played with every pointer device you have. This being a tablet, a normal mouse or even a touch screen (which makes it really easy all of a sudden). The point of the game is to match your gameplay with the beat of the song. You do this in 3 ways
1. The Hit marker. A button appears with a ring surrounding it. The ring gets smaller over a short timespan. As soon as the ring touches the button, you are supposed to click it. If it is a good beatmap this will be at the time time as a beat in the song. This may sound easy, and it is easy... on easy. On hard the timespan between buttons gets real short, clicking several times in a second. And not all buttons are on the same place on the screen. Thus you need great accuracy to click and aim at the same time. Is on of these wrong, you will get less points or none at all!
2. The slider marker.It uses the same approach ring as the Hit marker. Yet once you clicked it you have to hold down the button. In the meantime you have to use the pointer to go trough the slide. This also requires timing in order to get full points.
3. The spinner. Once it appears you have to use the pointer to spin around the circle fast! The approach ring returns again, this time displaying how much time you have left to spin. In the time that you have to spin you need to fill up the gauge on both sides of the spinners. If you complete it before time runs out you gain bonus points for every spin.
The screen you see features more the the things you have to click or move. In the top left you have a life bar. Fail to hard and you... well ... fail! The top right displays your score, kinda obvious. Underneath that you see a pizza slice, slowly filling up as the song progresses. Here you can see ho far you are into the song. Right from that you see a %. This displays your accuracy. The lower left corner has a multiplier. Every hit gives you 1 more combo point. This means that if you don't miss, every marker you DO hit is worth more points.
The fun thing about Osu! is that you can play all the songs you like. No, of course not every song you ever heard has a beatmap. But I find it hard to imagine that in the great library of beatmaps there isn't a single song you like. You can find a great deal of old skool video game music, anime music or random pop music... and lots of touhou... and even more touhou. Not to mention the touhou music T_T (seriously, from every music track of touhou there are at least 15 approved beatmaps!) If you truly want a song to be playable, you can also create one yourself.
If you are a lazy DDR player or want to test your aim in a music game I can recommend Osu! to you. It can entertain you for hours or for a couple of minutes. About anything you want.
Also, this time I am not going to end this post with fun facts. Instead I want more views on my youtube account by linking some video's of my gameplay. Enjoy!
Ps, I should note that I play this with a regular pc mouse. Not with a tablet or anything.
Ever since popular games existed, there existed sequels. A good example of that is the Final Fantasy series. They range from 1 till 14! now, not even counting the ones without number. Although technology became better with each new title, it didn't always mean that the games were good. Yet people still bought the games since it was Final Fantasy. It had to be good, and anyone who claimed otherwise was a noob.
This flame war still continues nowadays. Sometimes the popularity exeeds the quality of some other games, yet it still sells better. Personally, I just buy a game if I like it. I do some research, and then decide if I should buy it, favorite title or not. But how do you think about it? Are popular games good by default? Or should every game get his criticism regardless of title. Give me your opinion and comment or leave me a message in another way.
Power: Strong tongue, Super Digestive powers, Flutter jump
Age: Differs
As a suggestion for this weeks character, I got Yoshi, and I totally agree. This has to be one of the most (if not THE most) beloved characters in the Mario world. With it's cute sounds and friendly appearance everyone remembers Yoshi as a fun character to play with in almost every game he appeared.
He first a appeared in Super Mario World in Dinosaur land. The first time they meet storywise though is during Super Mario World2: Yoshi's Island. In this game Mario and Luigi get kidnapped. Mario falls from his flying kidnapper, right onto a Yoshi's saddle, unharmed. Yoshi learns of what happened and decides to help.
Yoshi's have changed over time and also have different abilities. There seem to be different kind of Yoshi's in different regions too. Yoshi started out as a real dinosaur lookalike. He had a long neck, and small arms. His skin was darker green. This was changed in Yoshi's Island, where he got more human like arms and a smaller neck. His skin also became more lighter green.
Yoshi's come in different kinds of colours though. In Super Mario World, different coloured Yoshi's had different abilities. A red Yoshi would always fire fireballs when he swallowed something. The yellow one would always create clouds when he touched the ground after a jump. The blue Yoshi had the capability to fly once he swallowed something. A green Yoshi could do all those things by swallowing the shells of the appropriate colour.
Yoshi uses his tongue to swallow enemies. His tongue is very strong and long, being able to pull in enemies from a distance to swallow them. He also has a strong digestive system, being able to swallow almost everything before laying it out as an egg. These egg contain items in some games. In other games Yoshi is able to throw the newly laid eggs.
In the Delfino region Yoshi has other powers. Although Delfino has lots of water, Yoshi cannot swim, and dissipates once he goes too deep. Instead of the ability to fly or spit fireballs, Yoshi can eat fruit and spit it out again. This can have several impacts on enemies, sometimes even transforming them. Yoshi can also eat enemies, but nothing specials happens.
Yoshi in Mario Galaxy also likes fruit, but it has different capabilities. He can eat peppers to get an amazing speed boost, thus being able to run up slopes or even on water. By eating a blimp fruit he expands and is able to fly up. If Yoshi eats a bulb berry he starts to glow, revealing hidden pathways.
All Yoshi's also have the ability to use the flutter jump. Once they jump, they use their feet to kick down rapidly, gaining altitude. If used when running they can hover in the air for a while, gaining distance. Unfortunatly this isn't always enough for Mario T_T.
Even though he isn't always treated so well, Yoshi is a honest character, always willing to help by eating your enemies. He can be a bit of a scared, avoiding haunted houses and such. He also shows lots of willpower, never giving up. He is also described as Courageous and Humble, fighting agains enemies much bigger then him and never asking something in return.
FUN FACTS! Yoshi...
... is based on a character called Tamagon, they both make the same noise when they hatch
... 's favorite food depends on it's colour. Green Yoshi's like melons for instance. White Yoshi likes
white pepper etc.
... appears in Zelda: Links Awakening as a collectible doll
... 's audio only containt the words Yoshi or Nintendo.
... has no value for money. Yet he has his own gold course, tennis court and Kart course!
Name: Tales of Symphonia
Devoloper: Namco Tales Studio
Year: 2003-2004
Platform: Nintendo Gamecube
Genre: RPG
As a new Blogger, I rely a lot on the feedback of my friends. So last week I showed him my posts and asked his opinion. He usually isn't into blogs and stuff, but he kinda liked this. "But," he said: "I only respect it if you write a good Tales of Symphonia Review." Now I know that he is a great fan of this game (so much in fact, that he played this probably over 10 times now). So how can I resist this. Here you go Daan ;) Enjoy.
The story is about a group of people that travel the world to regenerate it. The world, called Sylvarant, needs mana for almost everything, but once in a while it starts to diminish. People then turn to the chosen one. A person chosen by a goddes called Martel. She will travel the land to unleash seals in every corner of the world. By unleashing a seal, she starts to become an angel. Once every seal is unleashed, the chosen one becomes a true angel and regenerates the world. The chosen one in this story is called Collete Brunel. A cheerfull little girl who can be a bit of a klutz sometimes. She is accompanied by her friends Lloyd Irving and Genis Sage. With them travels her teacher, Raine Sage, the older sister of Genis. Kratos, a mercenary paid to help the regeneration make possible is also with them. Together the travel the world to unleash the seals. Yet they discover that becoming an angel makes you less human. And the story about the regeneration is a bit darker then they thought it would be.
Now, I can tell you more about it but this isn't Zeronic's spoilers lounge. Although I can tell you that Sylvarant isn't the only world you visit (or save). The world that you see before you is displayed in 3 types of screens. At first you have the world map, from here you travel from town to town (or dungeon). On the world map you can encounter enemies. They are displayed as a random purple monster.
Next up is the dungeon view. You see more detail here, and every area looks different. You can talk to people, find treasure or enter a building to buy weapons and take a rest. In hostile area's you also encounter monsters. They look different from the ones on the world map, more resembling the monster you have to fight in the...
Fight screen. And here is were things are most interesting. Like every "Tales of" game till now, the battles are real time. This means that enemies can attack at all times, so if you have to think, pause the game or face imminent DEATH. You can only control 1 party member at a time, the other 3 characters act as they see fit. You can instruct them to use certain abilities in the pause screen though. With your main character you walk around the battlefield, spamming the A button to attack. You can pull of 3 or more hits with most characters. After those attacks you can use a special skill. Most "Tales of" refer to these as artes. They are called skills in this game, and you can chain a level 1 skill into a lvl 2, a lvl 2 into a lvl 3. Skills cost mp (magic point) though, so don't use them too much or you run out before a boss battle.
Next to this you also need to guard (with X) and you can unleash a unison attack in which all character unleash a free special attack for some neat combos (Z button).
To improve your battle skills (or other skills such as faster walking in towns and dungeons), you also have EX Skills, you can equip those to a character to improve certains aspects, making them better in combat.
On a final note. If you think the AI is real stupid, (or if you just have a crappy tactic), you can also connect more controllers and let your friend take care of one of your other party members.
Now, although this is a great game, with a nice plot, I am not that fond of the graphics. It is not what makes this game stand out. It doesn't look bad but most area's you see aren't exactly surprising. There isn't a place you would remember because it just looks so damn awesome. The one thing that I am fond of is the skits and movies you see when certain important happens in the story. The normal graphics are replaced but some good Japanese animation which just want to jump out of your screen. Very detailed and you see them quite often. Skits are short converstation between characters that you can activate any time at will once you see a message pop up. It usually contains some funny information about the story or some nice background info (such as the fact that you WILL know that Rain cannot cook... Spicy Short Cake! What the hell were you thinking!).
Although the game is called Tales of Symphonia, storywise it has nothing to do with music. The background music you hear though is quite memorable and it always fits the moment. It is not only catchy, but just nice song sometimes too. I rather listen to this that most Top 40 music. All in all. The music for this game is just fine.
If you like RPG's, you really have to play this one. If you are looking to waste time as a gamer... play this one. It is quite long for a gamecube game and it can entertain you for weeks. Definitely if you try to get every side quest, item and skit. Like I mostly do ;)
Some fun facts about this game:
- Although it takes place before Tales of Phantasia (the first Tales of Game). You see more technical stuff and machines then in Phantasia
- Star Wars is not the only story with a "I am your Father" WTF moment
- You can have 8 party members in total, yet you can recruit 9
- Pacman makes an appearance here
- Other Tales of Characters make an appearance here
- This game has catgirls!
A long time ago, games were created for an alternative public. With this I mean that people who enjoyed movies, or going out, are different from the people who enjoy videogames. Nowadays, gaming is for everyone. A good example is the Nintendo Wii, who made games for the entire family.
The gaming industry has become a real moneymaker, and thus, solutions to make even more money are made. So they decided to make games of popular movies, in the hope that if people liked the movie, they would buy the game. The Harry Potter games for instance, sold really well. However, making a game from a movie I already saw takes away the experience. I already know the story, and to make it so that it is still playable a lot of modifications are done on certain aspects. This takes away the will of playing that game for me.
Nowadays, making games from movies or popular cartoons is done a lot. But what do you guys think about making games out of something else. In other words: Should the game industry stop making games from movies?
Give me your opinion and comment or leave me a message in another way.
Name: Miles Tails Prower
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog
First appeared: Sonic2
Alignment: Hero
Power: Huge IQ, Tails
Age: 4.5 / 8 years old (4.5 in the comic. 8 In the games)
Sonic, being one of the first games I ever played, still is one of my favorites. As soon as I saw this little fox, I became a fan though. And the only character who beats him in my eyes is Shadow, but I will talk about him later.
He first showed up in sonic 2, for no apparant reason. The comic explained that Sonic and Tails met when he was kicked out of a birds nest. Tails thought he was a bird, due to his ability to fly. Afterwards, Sonic gives Miles Prower his new name, which he prefers.
Tails is manly known for his ability to fly. He does so by spinning his 2 tails rapidly to gain altitude. Flying forward or backwards is harder though. And eventually he grows tired, gliding back downwards. This power can be used to reach areas who are inaccesable to Sonic or any other character. He can also lift characters into the air. To run faster he spins his tails behind him to propel himself forward. At maximum speed he can lift his feet from the ground to glide over the surfaces. He still isn't as fast as Sonic though.
Tails is also know for his IQ. He is very smart, inventing aircraft or other devices at a young age. Perhaps his most famous invention is "The Tornado". A small plane which can shapeshift into many forms, including a mecha which he can ride in. He also made a chaos emerald locator and he was also able to create a fake emerald with almost the EXACT same properties as a normal chaos emerald.
Although most characters in the Sonic series can use the chaos emeralds to turn into a SUPER form, Tails cannot. However, if he uses the power of the super emeralds, he can turn into a super form (Other turn into hyper form). His superform is really special though. Like many other characters he turns invincible, immune to almost all sorts of damage. Unlike any other character, he gains allies. Four Flickies, the birds from the first Sonic games who were imprisoned, join him. They also start to glow and fly around Tails. They attack enemies when they are in eyesight. Tails can win a battle while standing still this way!
Tails, all in all, is a humble person. He does not have lots of self esteem, however, he is brave enough to help his friends when needed. He dreams of being like Sonic, courageous and careless, but later gives up on that position.
Fun facts! Tails...
... or Miles prower, is a pun on Miles per hour.
... was originally Brown.
... unlike Sonic, Is able to swim
... favorite food was chilidogs, just like Sonic, until he discovered Mint Candy.
... has a slight fear of electricity and a greater fear of thunder.
... due to his behavior and voice, is often depicted as a girl
To start my review, I am going to talk about a game I am currently replaying. The Windwaker is one of those games I go back to when I have nothing to do. I guess the cartoony graphics and the easy gameplay are appealing to me. This is one of those games that I know by heart by now so reviewing this wasn't a problem.
The story starts with a small review about Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Some time after Ganondorf was defeated by the Hero, he returns. This time there is no Hero however and the people of Hyrule could only appeal to the gods for help. They replied.. .and sealed Hyrule under water. In time this legend was forgotten, but the story of the Hero lived on. Thus, when a young boy comes of age, they get a green tunic the resembles the hero's tunic. Once you get your tunic you see a pirate ship approaching your island, chasing a humongous bird who is carrying a girl. She gets dropped in a forest, and you go rescue her. When you get back, you are greeted by your sister, who kinda resembles the girl you just saved. The bird comes back though, and takes your sister instead of the girl you just saved. Horrified and angry, you chase the bird by pirate ship. A quest in search of your sister in the vast seas of Hyrule.
Got you interested? Good, because I am not going to tell you any spoilers. Instead, I will tell you about the gameplay, Which, if you played those, resembles the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. You walk around with the control stick, which runs quite smooth. The A button is the standard action button and is used for talking with persons, using items or parrying once you get the opportunity. The B Button is used to swing a weapon, being your own weapon or something you pick up from the ground or grab from an enemy. These can vary from a deku stick till a huge lance. On the X, Y and Z button you can allocate items such as the boomerang or a bottle. Like all Zelda games, this game has lots of items such as the classic bow and arrow or the new picto box, which you can use to take pictures for several sidequests. You operate the camera with the C stick, Lock on with the L button and R is used to guard or crouch. Like I said before, this looks a lot like the gameplay from the Zelda on the N64 Platform, with some nice tweaks to make it a little easier.
Although the dungeons take place on the islands(or below the sea!) You also need to travel a lot by boat. Eventually, you will get your own boat which you can use to sail the seas. A mystical item called "The Windwaker" is used to control the winds, thus making it easier to sail around.
Get used to sailing though. You see, you will see the sea quite a lot. Which might make it a bit boring since you see blue all the time, This is blue haze is only disturbed by an enemy once or twice, but no real threats. The islands you visit are quite colourfull, on the contrary. The style used for this Zelda is absolutely not realistic. But this look is, like I said before, quite appealing. Even though some dungeons are dark and creepy, the setup makes it so that you feel in a happy place, laughing about Link every now and then since he looks quite funny.
The music in his game are about the same as the graphics, simple, yet catchy. Every town has it own music that kinda fits the theme. Although the dungeons could use more work. You have to listen very carefully to even hear music sometimes!
All in all, a great game to play even if you are not great fan of Zelda, give it a try. Perhaps it puts a smile on your face. Definitely if you try the new game+.
Hi there... yes... YOU. Hello, have a seat. Why you say? Well, because you probably came here for a reason. Am I right? Well sit down then, and relax.
You are probably here because you want to know a bit about computer games. Then you are in the right chair. On this blog I am going to share all my gamer experience by reviewing things, giving some tips or tricks and give you some background information about certain characters from your and my favorite games.
Now, I am not planning to be biased of course but I do have a favorite genre of game, mainly RPG but of course I will blog about other sorts of games too. Same goes for characters, I do have my favorites but again writing reviews about the main prota/anta-gonist all the time is boring too. Those support characters deserve a chance in the spotlight too ( Now you know how Luigi feels). Last but not least. I played LOTS of games so there is a chance that I might know a trick or 2 that you do not know about. If you like my tips and tricks post, leave a comment asking for a tip about any of your favorite games.
That goes for practically everything. If you want a review about a game you, the reader, played. Contact me by all means. The next post might actually be about YOUR favorite!
With this, I close the opening. And hope that you can relax during the following posts.
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