Popular Post rjkclarke Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) Classic Review Platinum #135 Final Fantasy Type - 0 HD (PS4) Agito Achieved Obtained all trophies. A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 6 July 2017: 9:06:35 PM Time taken to Platinum - 1 year, 10 months, 2 weeks Platinum Rarity - 15.71% Trophy Number - # 7501 This is potentially going to surprise anyone that has been reading this thread for a while. Which is the fact that – I bought this game purely to get the demo that came with it for Final Fantasy XV. A demo which coincidentally, is still installed on my console. I’m not too sure why either, maybe as a reminder for how initially excited I was for Final Fantasy XV. How times change right? Final Fantasy XV is far from my favourite Final Fantasy title, but that’s just a personal preference thing, I feel like I have to make that part abundantly clear. It’s most definitely a good game, arguably even a great one, I just don’t love it. Even though I wish that I did. Final Fantasy Type 0 – HD, for those who aren’t aware. Is a remaster of a Japanese exclusive PSP Final Fantasy title called – well, Final Fantasy Type 0. That was probably an unnecessary bit of information, as that seems too obvious now that I think about it. I’d argue within the Fabula Nova Crystallis (itself a Final Fantasy subseries, think of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy and Final Fantasy XV, they all fall within the same subseries) series of Final Fantasy games, this is probably the one that has had the least love and exposure (provided you don’t factor in the mobile exclusive titles). It’s strange really, because outside of an overabundance of the world l’Cie or fal’Cie, within the dialogue of Type 0, I don’t think it quite fits. Lets for just a minute hop down a hypothetical rabbit hole (something I seem to love doing in these things) – I personally think this game SHOULD have and might have benefited from being set in the same universe as Final Fantasy VIII. Everything about the world itself and the lore just seem to mesh better with the universe established in VIII. Both titles feature fairly spurious justification for training seemingly very young people to fight – in an almost private military-esque set up, much like the Gardens in Final Fantasy VIII. I just think it fits a little better; you could even set it during The Sorceress War from VIII and have the odd cameo from characters like Laguna, Ward and Kyros. All hypothetical of course, I just think it might have added a little more to a game that already struggles to stand on its own independently. I never really mention the story in these reviews, and that isn’t going to change here. Although I am going to mention characters, which are - unusually, for a Final Fantasy title, arguably the weakest component in this game. Essentially having 14 playable characters ultimately ends up as a bit of a misstep. There are only a select few of the characters that really get very much development at all. I could be being overly critical here, I don’t ever think there’s an excuse not to develop or at least explore the games characters, if the developers went to the trouble of putting them in the game to begin with. This could be a little bit of foggy memory, as I haven’t played this since 2017, but I virtually remember nothing significant about any of the characters. Rem and Machina seem to be the exception, with Ace also getting quite a bit of focus. The thing I remember most seemed to be practically every character saying things like “I must reach Agito” or “Have I reached Agito?” I think the fact that a lot more elements of the story are revealed in a second playthrough (which coincidentally, is not required for the platinum) means that the incentive to delve deeper into the characters further isn’t really there, as it’s honestly a little bit of a struggle to get invested in some of the characters at all. The character designs themselves are actually quite good, although arguably not very distinctive outside of a few characters. I’ve probably made Final Fantasy Type 0 sound like a pretty lame duck so far haven’t I? Well let’s change that up a bit and heap some well deserved praise on it. As far as this game being a remaster goes - purely from a visual perspective, it’s nothing short of excellent. If you didn’t know, you’d absolutely be fooled into thinking you were at the very least playing an upscaled PS3 game. I doubt you’d sit there thinking you were playing a PSP game. It’s much like Metal Gear: Solid Peace Walker in that respect. It’s worth having a look at both the PSP version and the PS4 version to see the differences, they are quite astounding. Especially the vibrancy of the colours, which is something that’s really prominent in the PS4 version. For a game, that arguably Square Enix could have gotten away with being a bit lazy with its remaster, they did a fantastic job here. I only say that, because I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who bought the physical edition of this game to get the Final Fantasy XV demo. I suspect many people might have ended up becoming a fan of Zone of the Enders as a result of Metal Gear Solid 2’s demo being included with that game. Slight tangent, but I’m looking forward to getting to the Zone of the Enders reviews, those are going to be quite fun games to talk about. In true Final Fantasy fashion. Final Fantasy Type 0 does boast an impressive soundtrack, which I don’t think I appreciated as much until I did a bit of prep for this review. Upon listening to it, I started to remember a few of the moments from the cutscenes a little clearer. A clear indication if any, that Final Fantasy music can still be moving, regardless of whether it’s in a less than stellar title or not. Rem and Machina’s respective themes in particular, feel very much entrenched in what you’d expect to hear in a Final Fantasy game. It’s not a patch on any of Uematsu’s Final Fantasy work, but that’s unfair to really make that comparison in the first place. The music found here, has its own unique identity – which is all you can ask from any video game soundtrack really. Unfortunately - Final Fantasy Type 0 doesn’t contain the greatest voice acting you’re ever likely to hear in a Final Fantasy game. This is going to sound very harsh I expect, but it can’t be ignored, at times the voiced dialogue sounds like a poor English voiced anime dub. I’m sure you know the kind I mean, where the pitches of the characters voices just wildly veer all over the place for seemingly no reason. Well that’s a constant occurrence in this game. One thing about this games dialogue, which still makes me laugh to this day when I think about it, is one of my friends younger brothers once walked into the room we were in when he was about 12 or 13 and exclaimed to an almost perfect impression one of the lines from this, which was “ GLORY TO THE GREAT MILLITESSI EMPIRE!!.” It came completely out of nowhere, and was utterly hilarious. I guess it’s one of those; you had to be there things though. I still thought it was worth sharing though, how even after all these years, this game still slips into my subconscious via that moment. At this point, you are probably wondering – what actually is particularly noteworthy about Final Fantasy Type 0? Honestly, it’s the gameplay. The gameplay is really quite satisfying; in fact it’s almost a prototype for what the combat system in Final Fantasy XV would become, but in my opinion just a little bit more varied, so for me that made it more enjoyable. Due in no small part to the quick fire nature of the missions. Itself a holdover from being a PSP title, which tended towards a more pick up and put down style of gameplay. Add to that, the fact that each character plays slightly differently, due to using different weapons and having different skills and strengths to utilise. The gameplay itself ends up being the thing that kept me interested. I found Ace to be the most enjoyable character to control personally; he’s effective at both range and up close, so he’s a very versatile character. He has a deck of if I remember right, magic infused playing cards – much like Gambit from X-Men. There are plenty of other interesting and viable options though, and you do have to have a balanced team - as all of the characters are required to progress through some of the later mission stages. Experiment, and find out what you like, that’s half the fun of this game, in fact enjoying specific characters play styles might help you get more invested in them as characters, which admittedly as mentioned above the game doesn’t do the greatest job of organically doing. Another interesting thing of note, is that before starting a mission the game will sort of point you in the direction of the best characters to use in those specific missions, by signifying that the cadets for that mission are “primed” I’ll give a bit of advice for anyone that is either planning to play this at some point, or has it in their own backlog; then I’d suggest you use the private training EXP tricks to level up ALL of the characters faster, which will make your time in the latter portions of the game much more manageable. Don’t make the mistake I did and have to do those with a completely unbalanced team of one or two powerhouses and a few other characters essentially held together with a combination of sawdust, paper and glass. It’s entirely possible to achieve the platinum in Final Fantasy Type 0 in a very short amount of time, well – short considering it’s a Final Fantasy title. I had a quick glance at the guide on this site, for a rough idea of how long it would take. 40 hours does seem pretty realistic, I think my playtime was a little less, but only about an hour or so less. I admittedly rushed through things towards the end as I was starting to get a little jaded with the game by that point. It’s interesting to read through this trophy list, as it’s quite atypical for a Final Fantasy trophy experience. Type 0’s is very focused around combat and mission ranks – and to a point just completing chapters. Whereas, quite often Final Fantasy games, see you completing all the side quests and exploring all of the mini games and side activities that the game has to offer. I’m glad the trophies put some focus on the side content though; I really enjoyed finding the airship in this game. It wasn’t remotely what I expected it to be, so that came as a very pleasant surprise. Part of me wonders if they should have included a trophy for a second playthrough, just to make absolutely sure that the person playing the game experienced the most complete version of the story they possibly could, due to all the story revelations that come from the additional playthrough. I’m honestly unsure on whether or not I’d recommend this one. If you aren’t remotely invested in the Final Fantasy series, it’s hard to really justify why someone would like it. There are plenty of games similar to this available, that you might arguably have a much more enjoyable experience playing. If you’ve got a tendency toward being a completionist in certain game series, like I do, then this is a game that I’d definitely consider playing through to add another Final Fantasy title to the collection. If, on the off chance you are a Final Fantasy fan that hasn’t played this, then I’d recommend giving it a go, it’s by no means the worst Final Fantasy title you could ever play, and you’ll probably enjoy some of the little references and Easter eggs that are peppered in throughout the game. It's been an interesting one to revisit, because it's one of those Final Fantasy titles that doesn't seem to get very much attention for good or ill it seems. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another little Final Fantasy IX Update! This post sure is Final Fantasy flavoured huh... We're nearing the end. In fact this is probably the penultimate of these little update type things on Final Fantasy IX. I'll probably do one more once I've gotten Bloodlust unlocked - and then it's a straight run to the end. So what's left? I've pretty much done all of the side content now. In fact, as I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, I'm going to play some more of the game tonight. I'm thinking I'll probably tackle Ozma in the next hour or two. I still need to win 100 Tetra Master matches. So I'll try and make the goal of tonight to at least get that done. Then it's just a case of going to every beach in the game on a Chocobo, getting a character to level 99 and then Bloodlust. I've also got to do the Clean Bill of Health trophy, which I've been told I can't do till the final dungeon so I'm lumping this in with the next thing, which is getting the other characters ultimate weapons, but I believe those are all found in the final dungeon so I'll get them after Bloodlust. Playing this has made me look forward to some of the longer games I have still yet to get to - because honestly, getting to share the experience with everyone here has been half the fun. So I'm sure whenever I get around to going back to Star Ocean those of you who are following along, can mock me for my abnormally slow progress - that would probably make a slug stuck in a puddle of treacle - feel the need to say " isn't he going a bit slow?" Edited October 21, 2021 by rjkclarke 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 7 hours ago, rjkclarke said: If, on the off chance you are a Final Fantasy fan that hasn’t played this, then I’d recommend giving it a go, it’s by no means the worst Final Fantasy title you could ever play, and you’ll probably enjoy some of the little references and Easter eggs that are peppered in throughout the game. It's been an interesting one to revisit, because it's one of those Final Fantasy titles that doesn't seem to get very much attention for good or ill it seems. First of all, once again a very enjoyable review! Thanks for putting it together. I have not played this one, and after reading what you have to say about it, I think it will stay this way ? Weak characters, not too good voice-acting and, the main reason I think I will pass, a combat-system that feels like a prototype for the one in FF XV, even though you mentioned this as a positive... I hated the combat system in FF XV. Not a fan of "hold down Square until everything is dead" ? 7 hours ago, rjkclarke said: So what's left? I've pretty much done all of the side content now. In fact as I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, so I'm going to play some more of the game tonight. I'm thinking I'll probably tackle Ozma in the next hour or two. I still need to win 100 Tetra Master matches. So I'll try and make the goal of tonight to at least get that done. Then it's just a case of going to every beach in the game on a Chocobo, getting a character to level 99 and then Bloodlust. I've also got to do the Clean Bill of Health trophy, which I've been told I can't do till the final dungeon so I'm lumping this in with the next thing, which is getting the other characters ultimate weapons, but I believe those are all found in the final dungeon so I'll get them after Bloodlust. Just out of curiosity.. where are you doing Bloodlust? This one is such a pain in the ass... ? I would really recommend doing everything else first... every single battle you have to fight normally will be welcome, the grind afterwards is already big enough ? Man, now I want to play FF IX again as well.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 11 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Final Fantasy Type - 0 HD (PS4) Great write-up man - Type 0 is one of those games that I always kind of held in the back of my mind as something to get to, but maybe kind of knew I would never actually do so - it's one of those that tended to just get shunted back in the rotational backlog by new stuff all the time, until it just fell of my map altogether. I think I remember playing one PSP FF game -- the FFVII spin off with pre-baddie Sephiroth and Zack cutting about together, and liking it for what it was, but maybe not loving it.... ...though my relationship with the PSP was never really cemented. At the time it was out, I really didn't have any use-case for hand-held, and so even good games tended to be played in such a segmented way over such a long period of time, that anything story based got broken up to the point of being unintelligible ? I must admit, the heavy focus on combat in this one does sound like its a game more interested in mechanics than story - not a big surprise on PSP, given the rampant popularity of the system in the Japanese market, where stuff like Monster Hunter ruled supreme. Nice to have some genuine background on the game though, despite it being probably destined to remain absent from my own gaming history! ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 @Arcesius and @DrBloodmoney - Thanks guys. I'm glad you both enjoyed it. I honestly thought most people wouldn't enjoy reading that one. Usually I find it very easy to kind of talk passionately and fluidly about games, less so in Type 0's case, I struggled a bit with really formulating my thoughts on that one, whilst also trying to be objective. In the pursuit of objectivity, I felt like that write up ended up exposing how middle of the road Type 0 is. I'll reply to you both individually down below, but it made the most sense to specifically do this bit, this way. 6 hours ago, Arcesius said: I have not played this one, and after reading what you have to say about it, I think it will stay this way Weak characters, not too good voice-acting and, the main reason I think I will pass, a combat-system that feels like a prototype for the one in FF XV, even though you mentioned this as a positive... I hated the combat system in FF XV. Not a fan of "hold down Square until everything is dead" Sorry if I put you off Arc - although to be perfectly honest, there are plenty of games that would be a better use of your precious time, I'd expect. I think in one of DrBloodmoneys reviews, he used the immortal line "I played it, so you don't have to" I feel like this review turned out to be my version of that. The fact I highlighted the combat system as one of the most positive aspects says it all really. I'm not overly fond of the combat in FFXV myself, I found it a little bit better in the DLC's, they at least do something a little different, and add a bit of depth to it, that it was definitely lacking. Hold down square until everything is dead sums that up perfectly ?, especially after they buffed the magic ring. 6 hours ago, Arcesius said: Just out of curiosity.. where are you doing Bloodlust? This one is such a pain in the ass... I would really recommend doing everything else first... every single battle you have to fight normally will be welcome, the grind afterwards is already big enough Man, now I want to play FF IX again as well.. I was planning to do it in Gizmaluke's Grotto - I read that that's where you most consistently seem to get 3-4 enemies spawn at once. Realistically all I have to do is fight Ozma and level to 99, everything else is tied to the final Dungeon, and I'll have to do another playthrough for Excalibur II. I'll definitely level to 99 first, because as you say every bit of extra battling will probably be welcome. I appreciate the advice. Bloodlust is such a head scratcher - I mean why 10,000? It just seems an unreasonably high amount. When I played FFVIII fairly recently I had to go out my way to even get 1000 kills, and I feel like I've spent even less time in IX actually battling, so it's definitely going to take a while. 2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: Great write-up man - Type 0 is one of those games that I always kind of held in the back of my mind as something to get to, but maybe kind of knew I would never actually do so - it's one of those that tended to just get shunted back in the rotational backlog by new stuff all the time, until it just fell of my map altogether. That makes perfect sense.. I've got plenty of games like that myself.. Ones, where you like the idea of playing them way more than the reality of actually doing so, and you end up just finding reasons not to. For me, it's The Last of Us - it's something I really feel like I should go back to and try and figure out if I was just projecting some of my own frustrations onto it unfairly. Which I quite possibly was. Unfortunately, every time I think about it I end up playing something else, or you pique my interest with something like This War of Mine and I go and play that ?. 3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: At the time it was out, I really didn't have any use-case for hand-held, and so even good games tended to be played in such a segmented way over such a long period of time, that anything story based got broken up to the point of being unintelligible So - it was like playing something from Kojima then. No wonder Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker works so well... ? I feel like hand-held consoles passed me by a bit. That's another me problem, that happens a lot, eh? ?. Although I really think I should get myself a Vita, because it gets a lot of warmth and love from a lot of people, yourself included - that it just seems silly of to let the back catalogue of great titles go completely unplayed. 3 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said: I must admit, the heavy focus on combat in this one does sound like its a game more interested in mechanics than story - not a big surprise on PSP, given the rampant popularity of the system in the Japanese market, where stuff like Monster Hunter ruled supreme. Nice to have some genuine background on the game though, despite it being probably destined to remain absent from my own gaming history! I can't say I blame you - I didn't exactly sell it as the most rousing experience ever did I. I don't think it is particularly an essential one to play anwyay. So although, I'm sorry if I put you off. I doubt you'll really miss out on much. And as I alluded to above, I think you probably said it best yourself.. I'm sure it was you anyway, correct me if I'm wrong, when you said something like "I've played it, so you don't have to!" Probably about Space Overlords. I can definitely see the logic behind making it more gameplay centric, PSP's didn't have the biggest of screens, or the best speakers in the world, from what I remember - so get the best out of your technical hardware instead, and let that do the talking. Ironically of the original God of War series (I have yet to play the new one), the PSP titles are probably the ones that did the most interesting things with the story. So, well focused story can definitely be achieved ion that console. It just wasn't in Type 0's case ?. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I suspect many people might have ended up becoming a fan of Zone of the Enders as a result of Metal Gear Solid 2’s demo being included with that game. Slight tangent, but I’m looking forward to getting to the Zone of the Enders reviews, those are going to be quite fun games to talk about. Zone of the Enders, eh? *makes note* 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: One thing about this games dialogue, which still makes me laugh to this day when I think about it, is one of my friends younger brothers once walked into the room we were in when he was about 12 or 13 and exclaimed to an almost perfect impression one of the lines from this, which was “ GLORY TO THE GREAT MILLITESSI EMPIRE!!.” It came completely out of nowhere, and was utterly hilarious. I guess it’s one of those; you had to be there things though. I still thought it was worth sharing though, how even after all these years, this game still slips into my subconscious via that moment. Love this, and love these moments. Most recently when I was going for COD 4's Best of the Best my wife walked past and just shouted out "HIT THUH TAH-GET!" which completely caught me off guard. Not quite the same thing of course, just wanted to share! 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: At this point, you are probably wondering – what actually is particularly noteworthy about Final Fantasy Type 0? Honestly, it’s the gameplay. The gameplay is really quite satisfying; in fact it’s almost a prototype for what the combat system in Final Fantasy XV would become, but in my opinion just a little bit more varied, so for me that made it more enjoyable. Due in no small part to the quick fire nature of the missions. Itself a holdover from being a PSP title, which tended towards a more pick up and put down style of gameplay. Add to that, the fact that each character plays slightly differently, due to using different weapons and having different skills and strengths to utilise. The gameplay itself ends up being the thing that kept me interested. I found Ace to be the most enjoyable character to control personally; he’s effective at both range and up close, so he’s a very versatile character. He has a deck of if I remember right, magic infused playing cards – much like Gambit from X-Men. There are plenty of other interesting and viable options though, and you do have to have a balanced team - as all of the characters are required to progress through some of the later mission stages. Experiment, and find out what you like, that’s half the fun of this game, in fact enjoying specific characters play styles might help you get more invested in them as characters, which admittedly as mentioned above the game doesn’t do the greatest job of organically doing. Another interesting thing of note, is that before starting a mission the game will sort of point you in the direction of the best characters to use in those specific missions, by signifying that the cadets for that mission are “primed” I’ll give a bit of advice for anyone that is either planning to play this at some point, or has it in their own backlog; then I’d suggest you use the private training EXP tricks to level up ALL of the characters faster, which will make your time in the latter portions of the game much more manageable. Don’t make the mistake I did and have to do those with a completely unbalanced team of one or two powerhouses and a few other characters essentially held together with a combination of sawdust, paper and glass. This is a great write up. I thoroughly enjoyed it in spite of never having had any interest in playing this game, and although that sentiment remains unchanged, I feel I've learned so much. Your description reminds me of people saying that XV's combat system resembled a nascent version of the one in the VII Remake. I find it fascinating to think that this was something Square had been gearing towards for so long, perhaps testing the waters a bit along the way, so to speak. Also I can relate to the sawdust, paper and glass remark... I've had characters so underleveled their limit breaks were throwing clumps of dirt? 20 hours ago, rjkclarke said: Another little Final Fantasy IX Update! This post sure is Final Fantasy flavoured huh... We're nearing the end. In fact this is probably the penultimate of these little update type things on Final Fantasy IX. I'll probably do one more once I've gotten Bloodlust unlocked - and then it's a straight run to the end. So what's left? I've pretty much done all of the side content now. In fact, as I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, I'm going to play some more of the game tonight. I'm thinking I'll probably tackle Ozma in the next hour or two. I still need to win 100 Tetra Master matches. So I'll try and make the goal of tonight to at least get that done. Then it's just a case of going to every beach in the game on a Chocobo, getting a character to level 99 and then Bloodlust. I've also got to do the Clean Bill of Health trophy, which I've been told I can't do till the final dungeon so I'm lumping this in with the next thing, which is getting the other characters ultimate weapons, but I believe those are all found in the final dungeon so I'll get them after Bloodlust. I don't know what sounds harder, Ozma or the 100 Tetra Master games! That card game felt like the equivalent to the obligatory sequel to a smash hit horror movie... Triple Triad was such a runaway success, it seemed they felt obligated to attempt to replicate it, and from what I recall it wasn't particularly fun. Good luck with both! Edited August 20, 2021 by YaManSmevz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 20, 2021 Author Share Posted August 20, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Zone of the Enders, eh? *makes note* I still don't get how I like those games - things with mech suits in really aren't my thing (usually at least), yet the first and second to varying degrees manage to tell some really compelling and relatable stories in places. It's one of the reasons I'm a bit more open to the idea of playing Trails of Cold Steel at some point - despite that being quite mech heavy. 3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Love this, and love these moments. Most recently when I was going for COD 4's Best of the Best my wife walked past and just shouted out "HIT THUH TAH-GET!" which completely caught me off guard. Not quite the same thing of course, just wanted to share! Share away man! That's a real funny one... I'm all up for sharing funny and unusual experiences like that. It's moments like that, that I find end up staying with you long after you've actually finished playing the game. I've got, what I think is quite a funny one to go alongside the first game in the most recent Tomb Raider trilogy - it's a story where anyone that reads it is going to either find it funny, or think I'm an absolute dumb-arse for making the decision that I ended up making. 3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: This is a great write up. I thoroughly enjoyed it in spite of never having had any interest in playing this game, and although that sentiment remains unchanged, I feel I've learned so much. Your description reminds me of people saying that XV's combat system resembled a nascent version of the one in the VII Remake. I find it fascinating to think that this was something Square had been gearing towards for so long, perhaps testing the waters a bit along the way, so to speak. Also I can relate to the sawdust, paper and glass remark... I've had characters so underleveled their limit breaks were throwing clumps of dirt Thanks!! Much appreciated as ever - the response to my write up of that game has surprised me a whole lot actually - I thought after I wrote it, I was being overly negative and that it would end up being a bit of a rubbish read, so I'm really pleased to see you guys enjoyed it. Although you're probably too nice to say it was terrible if it was anyway ?. Realistically I suppose I wasn't being that unfair, just honest, I think I was quite fair towards it. Reading it back just now, I think it's startling obvious how much I wanted to like it, but in the end didn't really like or dislike it. It was sort of just there. 3 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: I don't know what sounds harder, Ozma or the 100 Tetra Master games! That card game felt like the equivalent to the obligatory sequel to a smash hit horror movie... Triple Triad was such a runaway success, it seemed they felt obligated to attempt to replicate it, and from what I recall it wasn't particularly fun. Good luck with both! Well hilariously - or not in my case..... Haha ? - I grossly miscalculated how long those 100 Tetra Master games were going to take. I thought I'd push through and finish that trophy because I had nowhere to be today, but I didn't end up finishing the tetra master matches till gone 5AM. That was not the smartest decision I've ever made. I think I'd much rather have done Ozma, despite the horror stories I've heard over the years. Tetra Master - if we're using your horror sequel analogy, for me at least would either be American Werewolf in Paris, or Halloween H20 on the scale of iffy sequels. ? Edited August 20, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 20, 2021 Share Posted August 20, 2021 1 hour ago, rjkclarke said: Well hilariously - or not in my case..... Haha - I grossly miscalculated how long those 100 Tetra Master games were going to take. I thought I'd push through and finish that trophy because I had nowhere to be today, but I didn't end up finishing the tetra master matches till gone 5AM. That was not the smartest decision I've ever made. I think I'd much rather have done Ozma, despite the horror stories I've heard over the years. Tetra Master - if we're using your horror sequel analogy, for me at least would either be American Werewolf in Paris, or Halloween H20 on the scale of iffy sequels. Ouch. I never actually fought Ozma so I was probably talking out of my ass with that one, but that card game does linger in the memory as unpleasant at best. I too have heard that Ozma is a bit of a nightmare! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 On 21/08/2021 at 0:55 AM, YaManSmevz said: Ouch. I never actually fought Ozma so I was probably talking out of my ass with that one, but that card game does linger in the memory as unpleasant at best. I too have heard that Ozma is a bit of a nightmare! Oh dear!! I was only ever going to reply to this once I'd actually conquered Ozma, so that's why it took a while ? - what is it with me and grossly miscalculating how long something's going to take at the moment! There was me naively thinking " yeah I'll be level 99 in no time at all, and then off we go to grind out 10,000 kills." That certainly took longer than expected. Ozma is not too bad though (some of the horror stories are definitely true, unless you use reflect magic) - to be fair my party was in the 90's when I fought him - although I do have a save from before levelling, where I could go back and have a slightly fairer fight if I want to at some point. That taking ages meant I never wrote the review I meant to write yesterday - perhaps I should just start writing these in advance ?. Talking about Frogwares a bit with @DrBloodmoney yesterday, got me wanting to talk about games where a clear amount of ambition and intent is on show. So tonight Matthew, I'm going to be writing (points, for anyone who gets that slightly skewed and definitely pointless out of touch UK reference haha) a classic review on Dust: An Elysian Tail. A game with so much ambition, that outside of a few things, it was created solely by one person. That should be an interesting one to delve into I hope. Now..... Back to grinding my sunday away for that Bloodlust trophy! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 1 hour ago, rjkclarke said: I was only ever going to reply to this once I'd actually conquered Ozma, so that's why it took a while - what is it with me and grossly miscalculating how long something's going to take at the moment! There was me naively thinking " yeah I'll be level 99 in no time at all, and then off we go to grind out 10,000 kills." That certainly took longer than expected. Funny how we know better, and yet we'll be able to talk ourselves into thinking that way! "10,000 kills? Sure, I've got a free hour!" Healthy gamer confidence can slip into naivete so easily sometimes? 1 hour ago, rjkclarke said: Ozma is not too bad though (some of the horror stories are definitely true, unless you use reflect magic) - to be fair my party was in the 90's when I fought him - although I do have a save from before levelling, where I could go back and have a slightly fairer fight if I want to at some point. Ah, the RPG luxury of leveling up! More than a few times I've hidden behind that... then games like FFVIII started using that against you? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadly_Ha_Ha Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 I keep trying to work up the nerve to do FFIX. I honestly think I'd do the jump rope trophy legit, and it is HARD to feel like doing that lol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) 21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Funny how we know better, and yet we'll be able to talk ourselves into thinking that way! "10,000 kills? Sure, I've got a free hour!" Healthy gamer confidence can slip into naivete so easily sometimes That's always the way... Realistically I think I need about 10 free hours - so looks like I'm going to be listening to a lot of podcasts for a while.I genuinely thought it wouldn't take long oops. Having no real tracker is a bit of a bummer as well - so you never really know when it's going to unlock. You just go on mindlessly until you get it I suppose. 21 hours ago, YaManSmevz said: Ah, the RPG luxury of leveling up! More than a few times I've hidden behind that... then games like FFVIII started using that against you Haha ? - unfortunately. They got wise to our lazy ways! When I first played FFVIII when I was very young it was just a case of using all of the games various GF's as meat shields because the junction system was too much for my child's brain at the time. So I basically thought "big thing, smash smaller thing." 21 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: I keep trying to work up the nerve to do FFIX. I honestly think I'd do the jump rope trophy legit, and it is HARD to feel like doing that lol I did the jump rope trophy legit. It's chronicled all over this thread and other peoples checklists about me failing it constantly for at least a week haha. I had a nagging thing in my head where I thought if I didn't do it myself, that I wouldn't feel like I'd truly achieved it. That's not at all an elitism thing either, I can totally understand why others decide not to, and I've got no problem with that whatsoever. It certainly tested my patience on occasion, but I kind of knew from doing some other pretty skill based trophies in the past, that - that feeling you get when you ultimately do achieve what you've been striving for is almost second to none as far as gaming goes. I definitely know what you mean about it feeling hard to want to do it. I had to really motivate myself. If I was going to give any advice out for it, I'd knock it out as the very first thing you do. It's pretty much a distant memory for me at this point, I just didn't want my lingering memory of my time with Final Fantasy IX (which I'd never actually played before now either) to be constant failure at a minigame. If you're interested, I posted something about how I felt about it righting after getting the jump rope trophy in the post your last trophy thread, alongside some tips that I thought, might help anyone that ends up going for it themselves. I don't post in that thread very often But it seemed fitting as I was so elated at the time, if you want to, you can read it here. That's not a shameless plug, it's just purely there if you're interested. I think that trophy is just as much a mental test as it is an actual skill test. Much of the rhythm of the jumps become second nature, but the nervousness never stopped being alien for me. I failed far more often from nerves than anything else. I even cut caffeine out completely for about 3 days before I finally got the trophy, because I was a little worried that I was overly anxious and nervous when getting close due to too much of that. It was definitely a wild ride that's for sure! You'll be able to do it though, I hope you end up having as much of an enjoyable time with Final Fantasy IX as I've had! Edited August 23, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rjkclarke Posted August 23, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) Classic Review Platinum #137 Dust: An Elysian Tail (PS4) Mithrarin Awakening A Few Trophy Stats Platinum Earned - 19 Jul 2017 : 2:34:34 PM Time taken to Platinum - 2 years, 9 months, 2 days Platinum Rarity - 9.09% Trophy Number - # 7532 When I think of Dust: An Elysian Tail, I just can’t overlook what a marvellous achievement it is - that this game was created almost entirely single headedly. On that level alone the game itself is absolutely remarkable. If I happened to be wearing a hat right now, I’d take it off in a show of respect, but as I’m indoors and it’s night-time I think a simple “what an amazing job Dean Dodrill did,” will unfortunately have to suffice. You have to look at these sorts of things in context, and when you really think about it, we’ve all probably played games crafted by thousands of staff members, that don’t in anyway come up to the high standards that this game manages to set. Dust itself, is a game set within a fictional land (well, I guess most games tend to be, now that I think about it) featuring a raft of anthropomorphic animals. (Fun but irrelevant fact, I first learnt what that word meant playing a really obscure RPG on the original Xbox called Sudeki which had bucket loads of charm, much like this game has. It’s got Tom Baker in it too for any Doctor Who fans that might read this) You could broadly say that Dust also comes under the umbrella of being a metroidvania type of play experience. This isn’t too far from the truth. It also features that often quite heavily used trope of a talking sword. Now, leaving objectivity a side for a moment, don’t worry I’ll be running back to it soon. I just wanted to mention – how much I really didn’t like this game when I first played it. Felt pertinent to bring up considering how much I now, do like it. I can’t think why either, it’s not a case of a foggy memory or anything of that sort, nothing about it clicked with me, then eventually I decided to start it again from scratch and then suddenly something just clicked and I loved it. To this day I still can’t truly figure out what it was that changed. I suspect it was in part down to starting to delve a bit further into the dearth of indie titles that were available on the Playstation store, as at the time I definitely hadn’t dabbled with them nearly enough. Honestly, I’m glad I went back to it, because there’s a whole lot on display to enjoy with this game. Before I feel like I can really talk about the characters in any sort of meaningful way, I feel like I ought to draw attention to the games art style. Due, in no small part, to the fact that this games absolutely charming aesthetic is part of the reason it remains so memorable for me. I’ve been trying to persuade one of my friends to play this for years at this point, to which I constantly hear “oh that furry game....With the talking sword.” To be perfectly fair, on the surface that’s certainly what it looks like. I only mention that, because for some people the aesthetic might actually be the most off-putting thing about the game – after all we can’t all enjoy the same visual stimuli and nor should we. However, I would implore anyone that has ever been remotely put off by this game purely from a visual standpoint to at least sweep those thoughts aside for a moment or two and go in with an open mind. It’s hard to really describe the art style – it’s actually a little more unique than it appears to be. I’ve often thought it looks like a cross between Disney/Don Bluth animations spliced in with some anime. Yet, it’s not really either of those things. That’s just the closest comparison I could think of; in itself it’s very unique. The closest visual comparison I can think of, as far as video games go is probably Rayman – which might seem odd, but they do share quite a few similarities, it’s the clearly defined outlines of characters that really sprung to mind for me. The game itself doesn’t contain very much in the way of cut-scenes, but they do have some – and the ones they do have are incredibly memorable. Not only that, some of the ways in which they are framed are so atmospheric and dare I say it? Filmic - one of them particularly, towards the end of the game was very clearly inspired by some of Akira Kurosawa’s cinematography. It’s small but fine attentions to detail with visuals like that that end up really enhancing the experience in certain games for me. I’m not going to give any spoilers away about the story of Dust – I think it’s pretty impressive actually, so I’d hate to spoil any sort of interesting twists or turns that it might take, I’ll simply just mention a few of the characters. As is often the case in video games – you play as an amnesiac protagonist, named Dust who doesn’t truly understand who they are, armed only with a talking sword Ahrah. Alongside Dust, you find your faithful travelling companion fidget. Who’s a character that I remember initially finding really annoying, but then so does Dust. So I often theorise as to whether it was a deliberate decision to make her character a little grating, just so that, you, the player - grow to organically like her in the same way that Dust does. Both Dust and Fidget in their own rights are very intriguing characters, which as the story went on I often found myself wanting to learn more and more about them. I think part of what really works in this games favour, is this games irrefutable charm. This really shines through when it comes to interacting with some of the more ancillary characters found within the world. It feels like an oxymoron to comment on how real some of these characters feel, considering the actual visual aesthetic and anthropomorphic animals would kind of counteract that feeling. It’s a testament to strong world building though, that many of these locations are believable, and feel realistic for the world in which they are situated. Dust: An Elysian Tail utilises sound in a fairly interesting way. Although - quite honestly, it isn’t the most distinctive or the strongest element of the game. The sound effects themselves, are very well produced – especially those used heard whilst in combat. One of the most satisfying elements of good combat (which this game absolutely has) is having some nice sound effects to go alongside the carnage. I say interesting, because I’m still not convinced some of the voice acting is actually good – yet I can’t help but like it. Dust himself, has such an unusual cadence to his voice, that I couldn’t help but have certain lines of his dialogue still flood into my head every now and then; the way he says “no fidget” is one of the ones that seems to creep into my brain on occasion. I’m not sure why, it just does. There are worse to have floating around my head I suppose. Anyway, that strange detour aside – the music found within Dust is a little inconsistent if I’m being totally honest. It’s completely competent, yes, and at times brilliant - based off of memory alone I can remember how much certain elements of the score really elevate some of the story revelations or events. The problem is, much of the soundtrack sounds the same, which I guess is one of those things that might be an issue dependent on the individual. I’m personally not the biggest fan of it, as I couldn’t help but see how much better it would have been if the specific area’s felt a little more distinct, which could have been rectified so easily with playing around with the musical score just a bit. Realistically though, when it works it REALLY WORKS. At times it’s reminiscent of Danny Elfmans work, especially some of the more ethereal pieces such as those heard in the opening of Edward Scissorhands. The gameplay is arguably one of the stronger areas of Dust – if not the strongest. In a game like this with limited cutscenes, you do need a strong bedrock of gameplay to fall back on. The game features, what seems like on the surface at least a fairly basic combat system, but playing on higher difficulties (which you need to, to attain the platinum) forces you to really explore, what does and doesn’t work in certain situations. If you looked at the trophy list it would be easy to feel a little intimidated by the fact you need to do a 1000 hit combo, but by synergising fidgets attacks with your own, you can attain that fairly easily in a multitude of ways. The combat itself is quite fast paced and satisfying, especially as you get stronger as the game progresses – so when you invariably have to return to earlier areas for collectibles or challenges (like any good metroidvania) you’ll absolutely feel like a beast as you’re quickly tearing through multiple enemies that might have given you a problem before. In your pursuit of the platinum in Dust: An Elysian Tail, you’ll be tasked with pretty much doing everything the game has to offer. Mercifully the game map pretty much tells you if you have, or haven’t done something with a nice little percentage marker. Personally - a game making you do the bulk of what they have to offer is something I usually really appreciate seeing. That’s no exception here; the fact you have to play the game on a harder difficulty essentially means you’ll end up understanding the combat system on a much deeper level. You’ll also as a result of the harder difficulty end up delving into the crafting system and making your own gear and weapons. It’s a system you’d likely never take advantage of too, on a lower difficulty as you pretty much have no real need to. If I was going to give any advice on this game, I’d say to try and do as many things as you are able to, the first time you come to an area - because being under levelled in this game can become a little troublesome as the game progresses. You can get around this by returning to areas and farming EXP, much as you would in an RPG if you really feel the need to. But good use of the crafting system and learning the combat, I don’t think you’d ever have to, apart from to maybe collect crafting resources. Something I failed to mention earlier, because I couldn’t quite find a relevant place for it, are the collectibles found within Dust. These are implemented in such a fascinating way too, which will probably slap a smile across the fans of indie games that might play this. The collectibles themselves consist of freeing friends from cages – who are those friends? Pretty much a who’s who of popular indie game characters, including; Super Meat Boy, Spelunky Man, Tim from Braid Gomez from Fez and The Kid from Bastion to name just a few of them. I enjoyed the challenge arena’s that you can do towards the latter part of the game immensely, whilst quite brief, I thought they were a really interesting mix of utilising everything you’d learned from the game up to that on a movement level, as well as testing your personal mastery of the combat. The guide on this site puts the platinum at about twenty hours, which honestly seems like quite a lot, I don’t ever remember the game being very long. It’s certainly never long enough to outstay its welcome. This game is absolutely worth a playthrough at some point I’d say. It’s also one of those games where anyone who has been subscribed to Playstation plus for a decent amount of time will probably already have it sat in their backlog. Even if it isn’t I’d have happily paid money for it. Not every element of the game is perfect of course, but for a title that was primarily the artistic vision of one man, it is absolutely something to behold. I don’t think it’s really long enough to outstay it’s welcome either, had it been thirty or forty hours I don’t think I’d be quite so fond of it. The idea of doing a write up of this specific game was born out of a discussion about overambitious game developers, but Dean Dodrill’s ambition cannot be undersold. Even if not every single height is hit – it really was trying, and I can’t help but commend that. Edited February 2, 2022 by rjkclarke 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadly_Ha_Ha Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 @rjkclarke sorry, wanted to respond with my full attention and I was a little distracted before. Elitism is suddenly this buzzword, this taboo around this website but I'm not buying it. I can understand where you were at in deciding to really do it and feel good about doing it. I also understand that that trophy would otherwise gatekeep a lot of people from the plat if the workaround wasn't there for them but... The guy who actually does it should never be called elitist for pointing out their actual accomplishment. Anyhoot, I also have never played IX. I think it's a terrible shame too since it's my favorite ost from any FF game and I really like it aesthetically and atmospherically from what I've seen (I'm trying to keep myself unspoiled to its plot and most of its systems because I want to play it fresh). I'm not afraid of an additional PT so I can experience it for the first time without a guide for missables, but yeah man that damn jump rope trophy is really a buzz kill. I'll read your post that you linked though since it may actually motivate/inform me. Congrats on Dust btw since you posted that as I was writing this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 (edited) @Deadly_Ha_Ha - no worries, I appreciate that actually. I always feel like I have to give every reply my full attention too, which is why I'm replying now, instead of much earlier. I hadn't really noticed elitism had become a buzz word - I just didn't really want anyone to level that at me, because I'm pretty much the furthest thing from that. I think, as you rightly say if the jump rope workaround wasn't there, yes a lot of people probably wouldn't even attempt the platinum. I think that's a shame that people would avoid an amazing game, just because they feel like the challenge would be too difficult. I can't tell people how to play games though, and I'd never wish to. I just worry people are missing out on great experiences in fear of messing with their perfect completion statistics. Which is a shame, because they are missing out on a genuinely brilliant game as a result of that. I understand that's an easy position to be in for myself - having an account, where I'll never be able to get 100%, but I think even if that option was still open to me I still would have played Final Fantasy IX. I was fully prepared to just admit defeat if I'd really struggled too much with the jump rope trophy. That's nice to see someone else that's managed to remain pretty much spoiler free for about twenty years on FFIX like I have - don't worry, you're not going to find any spoilers here either. I'm pretty careful to avoid spoilers as much as possible. Some of the choices for trophies in Final Fantasy IX are definitely a bit of an odd choice. Especially when you see some of the steam achievements that could have been implemented instead. The 10,000 kill trophy, which I'm struggling through at the moment is almost the biggest one. It just seems an unnaturally large amount. There's a few decent guides out there that don't really contain spoilers so long as you don't read ahead. I guess the purest way to go would have been completely guide-less first playthrough, which I think I probably would have done, had I had more free time. Final Fantasy IX definitely has one of the best of the series soundtracks, so it'll be nice for you to see where the music you've already heard is woven into the story. I think that'll give you quite a unique perspective on it actually. Thanks about Dust by the way. That was another one of my little "looking back on my older platinum's" style reviews that I do every couple of days. Looking over that just now - something has gone very wrong with the formatting of that, and I can't seem to change it. Some of the text is much smaller than the other text - how odd. That's what I get for pasting it straight in from a word document I guess haha. I'm hoping once I get to Kingdom Hearts you aren't going to want to plunge a sharp object directly into my squishy parts with some of my opinions on some of the later titles - if you ever read my thoughts on them. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot, there's just a few issues I'll really struggle to just gloss over. Edited August 23, 2021 by rjkclarke 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadly_Ha_Ha Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 @rjkclarke hang on now, what's this about Kingdom Hearts : ^ ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kopite Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 On 8/19/2021 at 7:25 PM, rjkclarke said: That's a very good point about it paying homage to the older titles. Good point. That's just a small gripe I have, with how all the characters get split up and then you don't really hear from Steiner or Freya for what would have been in the PS1 days almost an entire disc. The thing is, that really is a small gripe, because I don't actually think it detracts from the story at all, so it's an odd one for sure. I'm going to slap a little update to FFIX on that FF Type 0 review I'm writing later - I'm getting so close to being finished with IX now, it's both equal parts exciting and sad, that it's coming to an end. That's the perfect name for that Quina thing!! I'm going to see if any of my friends that are Animators fancy potentially doing a fun little YouTube video about it. Could be a right laugh. Oooo a review of FF Type 0 - that'll be an interesting one. Got the platinum for that, but not my favourite FF by a fair way. Quite odd how it is and plays and the structure of it. Tbf it was originally a PSP title. Haha I'd love to see that! Make it so! lol On 8/19/2021 at 7:25 PM, rjkclarke said: I don't mind him either to be fair - even if it probably sounds like I can't stand the poor guy. I just don't really identify with him the way the developers clearly intended. That's another me problem haha . Him and Penelo really do seem so out of place amongst all the other characters in FFXII and now you've enlightened me about them being added in the very late stages, it actually makes perfect sense. I'll look up that video in the next day or two, it sounds like a really interesting watch. I didn't know Final Fantasy XII had a bit of a rough time through development. It came out of it the other side quite well though, considering Yeah it did in the end, it is surprising how a game can turn out like that and yet you don't realise all the difficulties it had in it's development. It's an interesting watch if you got the time. On 8/19/2021 at 7:25 PM, rjkclarke said: I sure hope so - because if it isn't that's the most bizarre memory for me to have just conjured out of seemingly nowhere. Otherwise I might be off to spend some time with some people in white coats, and trying to rip sinks off the wall like Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, before you know it. I can't say I've ever watched/read that, so I'm just going to politely nod along lol I've heard of it though, don't worry I'm not that bad haha On 8/19/2021 at 7:25 PM, rjkclarke said: I guess it doesn't quite sound right - almost the sort of thing you'd find in a magazine made solely for people that run around in the woods firing spells at each other with sticks (no judgment here, if that's your thing) - found on top of, and badly disguised, in a pile of naked etchings, inside a very suspicious looking hollowed out tree stump in the woods. I think you should create that magazine. It'll expand your portfolio hahaha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: hang on now, what's this about Kingdom Hearts : ^ ) Nothing drastic to worry about - I know you're one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts fans on this site, so I just thought I'd forewarn you that not every single thing I have to say about them in a future write up would necessarily be a positive one. Honestly, it's probably a slight holdover from Kingdom Hearts III leaving an incredibly sour taste in my mouth (I've heard the DLC is amazing, but at its current price I just don't want to touch that with a ten foot barge pole right now). Kingdom Hearts III had so much to do, and I don't know that it actually pleased everyone the way it thought it would. The fact you were expected to essentially play every handheld title and the offshoot mobile titles to have a deeper understanding of the story and lore. ended up really hurting KHIII - in my opinion obviously, because they were clearly aware they had to minimise that, just so they didn't confuse those who had only played the first two mainline titles. In the end it all ended up being a bit messy. I still like the series a lot, but I don't know, Square Enix and there questionable business practices strike again I suppose. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Oooo a review of FF Type 0 - that'll be an interesting one. Got the platinum for that, but not my favourite FF by a fair way. Quite odd how it is and plays and the structure of it. Tbf it was originally a PSP title. Haha I'd love to see that! Make it so! lol That FF Type 0 review is at the top of this page if you wanted to read it. It was certainly interesting to write that's for sure. You and I have discussed it before a little bit. But I think if anything that write up does get across how mixed I feel about that entire game. I'll try and put some ideas together for that Quina thing haha - funnily enough Quina ended up being the person that reached level 99 first in FFIX. Which I thought was quite fitting considering how much I'd talked about them. 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: Yeah it did in the end, it is surprising how a game can turn out like that and yet you don't realise all the difficulties it had in it's development. It's an interesting watch if you got the time. I'm definitely going to check it out. I genuinely had no idea it had a bit of a troublesome development cycle, because yeah as you say it is surprising how a game can turn out, for good or ill with a strenuous development cycle. I mean look at what FFXV started out as. The fact I predicted Versus XIII would become XV tells me I should have been playing the lottery those years haha ? 4 hours ago, The_Kopite said: I think you should create that magazine. It'll expand your portfolio hahaha Why not, I write enough nonsense as it is!! Why not add a little more just for some light hearted fun ? - I don't think distributing them underneath a hollowed out treee stump in the forest is the best distribution method ?, but erm..... We can work on that part haha! Edited August 24, 2021 by rjkclarke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadly_Ha_Ha Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 16 minutes ago, rjkclarke said: Nothing drastic to worry about - I know you're one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts fans on this site, so I just thought I'd forewarn you that not every single thing I have to say about them in a future write up would necessarily be a positive one. Honestly, it's probably a slight holdover from Kingdom Hearts III leaving an incredibly sour taste in my mouth (I've heard the DLC is amazing, but at it's current price I just don't want to touch that with a ten foot barge pole right now). Kingdom Hearts III had so much to do, and I don't know that it actually pleased everyone the way it thought it would. The fact you were expected to essentially play every handheld title and the offshoot mobile titles to have a deeper understanding of the story and lore. ended up really hurting KHIII - in my opinion obviously, because they were clearly aware they had to minimise that, just so they didn't confuse those who had only played the first two mainline titles. In the end it all ended up being a bit messy. I still like the series a lot, but I don't know, Square Enix and there questionable business practices strike again I suppose. I'm just playing, and while I would always place myself at the top of the list of fans of the series I think it would be doing the series a disservice to pretend like it doesn't have its flaws. Looking back, most of the "spin-off" games (not a descriptor I would apply to them personally tbh) are worth their weight in the series. CoM, 358, BBS, those games added a lot to the story. Games like Re:Coded I can understand the feelings of, "What is this honestly even for?" but I can get behind it. I can get behind almost anything. What I had a difficult time getting behind was Unchained and Unchained X (the browser & mobile game) because they really were a poor place to introduce such CRUCIAL story points into the series. For what it's worth, I was in one of the top 3-ish clans NA in the mobile game but following its story was not convenient, and yet it heavily impacts Kingdom Hearts 3. As for the story itself, once Tai Yasue took over Dream Drop Distance it was a wrap. I would argue that until 2012 when that game came out, the story of Kingdom Hearts was so air tight I'd have staked my life on using it as a submarine. Once DDD came out, we were all on Mr. Bone's Wild Ride. I have never forgiven them for taking the series where they did but there's not much I can do about it so I have to eat it and move on. It's my opinion that Nomura did his best with KH3, the story I mean. Not everything went how I'd have done it myself, but all in all I really do not have many complaints about it. Not many, but some of the ones I have are pretty significant complaints. As for the dlc, I understand that it's almost a bad joke how expensive it is, but let me tell you something dude... Without that dlc, KH3 was a baby game and it resembled nothing of how solid the gameplay and the challenge was from KH2. That 100% is no joke, and even if it wasn't for the price I guarantee you that the challenge would turn most people off. Not to sound like an """""elitist""""" but that's a challenge that sounds good to me. It went from being the easiest platinum in the series to the hardest 100%. Worth every penny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 12 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: I'm just playing, and while I would always place myself at the top of the list of fans of the series I think it would be doing the series a disservice to pretend like it doesn't have its flaws. Looking back, most of the "spin-off" games (not a descriptor I would apply to them personally tbh) are worth their weight in the series. CoM, 358, BBS, those games added a lot to the story. Games like Re:Coded I can understand the feelings of, "What is this honestly even for?" but I can get behind it. I can get behind almost anything. What I had a difficult time getting behind was Unchained and Unchained X (the browser & mobile game) because they really were a poor place to introduce such CRUCIAL story points into the series. For what it's worth, I was in one of the top 3-ish clans NA in the mobile game but following its story was not convenient, and yet it heavily impacts Kingdom Hearts 3. You know, that really isn't the response I expected. That whole reply was a really interesting read, so thanks for that. I always worry when I discuss things with a very large fandom, that what I'm saying will get taken out of context. I'm so glad that it didn't. I guess I should apologise for even thinking you might fly off the handle. I probably didn't explain that bit about spin off titles very well - I very much think there's a valid need for them. In fact some of the spin off media, as you rightly say, adds a whole lot to the story. I've always thought it was a bit much to expect everyone to have read every single nugget of information that's on a wiki or something similar if they didn't have access to the games. I probably enjoy the first game the most, strangely. Although Birth by Sleep is a very very close second. I was really fond of Chain of Memories - it's got some really satisfying gameplay too. Nobody seems to like RE:Coded haha - I've never actually played the game version I've just seem the cutscenes and from what I've heard the gameplay for RE:Coded was actually fairly decent. Do you have a favourite by the way? I think the first it is the perfect blend of Disney storytelling and original story, and both of those elements ended up being woven together really well, yet also feeling quite organic. I think Dream Drop Distance for me is where it almost seems like the Disney was more of a hindrance upon the story they wanted to tell, and the two things just didn't quite gel so well. I'm not the biggest fan of DDD though, I guess you have to really like seeing balloons flying all over the screen right? 12 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: As for the story itself, once Tai Yasue took over Dream Drop Distance it was a wrap. I would argue that until 2012 when that game came out, the story of Kingdom Hearts was so air tight I'd have staked my life on using it as a submarine. Once DDD came out, we were all on Mr. Bone's Wild Ride. I have never forgiven them for taking the series where they did but there's not much I can do about it so I have to eat it and move on. I worried for a long time that once the third game came out most of what was included in the spin off media, would pretty much be forgotten about - thankfully it's not, but I think of some of it felt very tacked on at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 as a way to appease some of the people that have followed the series down practically every avenue. Even if some of the pay off to those stories I thought did feel a little bit rushed. What you said about the mobile and browser titles sums it up perfectly. That wasn't the place to introduce crucial story elements. I remember being utterly confused when the Chirithy appeared in Kingdom Hearts 3 - I remember asking one of my friends why there was a moogle there without a pom-pom, to which he kind of explained what they were. Then there's all the Master of Masters thing which got a bit lost on me too, because I also didn't watch all of the film that came with Kingdom Hearts 2.8. I looked forward to playing Dream Drop Distance for ages and I just really struggled to get on with it - I thought the way they wrote Sora in that game was quite the backward step for his character - then there's the whole time travel thing, which is just another head scratcher. 12 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: It's my opinion that Nomura did his best with KH3, the story I mean. Not everything went how I'd have done it myself, but all in all I really do not have many complaints about it. Not many, but some of the ones I have are pretty significant complaints. As for the dlc, I understand that it's almost a bad joke how expensive it is, but let me tell you something dude... Without that dlc, KH3 was a baby game and it resembled nothing of how solid the gameplay and the challenge was from KH2. That 100% is no joke, and even if it wasn't for the price I guarantee you that the challenge would turn most people off. Not to sound like an """""elitist""""" but that's a challenge that sounds good to me. It went from being the easiest platinum in the series to the hardest 100%. Worth every penny. I didn't hate the story myself - but I didn't really love it either and I can't stress this part enough, I really wanted to. I just kind of came away a bit unsatisfied. After waiting so long for that game I kind of just thought "was that it?" I don't think it makes you elitist to think that about the DLC difficulty potentially being a selling point, if it did, then I probably am too - I don't think rarity or difficulty is the be all and end all of quality, or anything like that. I've had so many wonderful experiences with games that have a fairly common rarity, or pose little difficulty, that I'd never discount something based on it's difficulty or rarity. With Kingdom Hearts 3 I just kind of thought, well it's easy and if more people get into the series as a result of an easier time I guess that can't be a bad thing. Personally, I did miss some of the challenge, I wouldn't have minded having to do a critical playthrough on Kingdom Hearts 3 at all, I probably would of welcomed it. I loved doing all of the data org fights in Kingdom Hearts II on critical, those really highlight, the quality on display in that games gameplay. Some of the optional fights in Birth by Sleep were great too. Even the ones as Terra with his vastly inferior dodge mechanic ? That does actually make me want to pick up the DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 at some point in the future if it truly adds that much more to the experience - then it absolutely sounds like it's worth it. Just that price point makes me wince a little bit haha. I'm glad to hear it might be worth the hefty investment though. Edited August 25, 2021 by rjkclarke 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadly_Ha_Ha Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) @rjkclarke I think of Re:Coded as the forgotten child of the series. I actually went to a NYC launch for the game at Nintendo World. It was two days before WW release and I got a special edition of the game and an actually amazing game poster that I framed. It's not a bad entry into the series at all and I'd recommend playing it if ever you get the chance. As for a favorite, it's very difficult for me to choose one. I played Kingdom Hearts two years after its release because for those two years I didn't have a PS2. I actually remember seeing commercials for it, and asked my grandma to bring me to Toys R Us so I could get it, and I asked the person at the games counter for a copy on PlayStation because I thought it was for both consoles for some reason. I was 12 or 13 when I did end up playing it and I knew it was special. But honestly it was CoM that got me absolutely HOOKED on the series. I played it on vacation in summer 2005 because I was still sort of catching up with the series, but man let me tell you, I wasn't the same person after playing it lol. My anticipation for kh2 was so beyond anything I'd ever experienced, that when I play the CD OST's in my car I feel every bit as moved as when I put that game into my PS2 in 2006. I was a freshman in college when BBS came out and I skipped classes to go get the BBS PSP and played it for days like a hermit. I remember having some of it spoiled for me before launch and I was almost inconsolably depressed. It was CRUSHING to have something like BBS even partially spoiled for me; I needed that experience to be 100% unsullied. In 2013 they officially announced KH3, and that year when I turned 21 I got my first tattoo which is "XIII" for Organization XIII, but the III is the roman numeral from the KH3 logo they revealed in that trailer. No game series, really nothing in my life has ever done for me what Kingdom Hearts continues to do Edited August 25, 2021 by Deadly_Ha_Ha 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrooba Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 (edited) On 25/08/2021 at 1:10 AM, rjkclarke said: Honestly, it's probably a slight holdover from Kingdom Hearts III leaving an incredibly sour taste in my mouth (I've heard the DLC is amazing, but at its current price I just don't want to touch that with a ten foot barge pole right now). Kingdom Hearts III had so much to do, and I don't know that it actually pleased everyone the way it thought it would. The fact you were expected to essentially play every handheld title and the offshoot mobile titles to have a deeper understanding of the story and lore. ended up really hurting KHIII - in my opinion obviously, because they were clearly aware they had to minimise that, just so they didn't confuse those who had only played the first two mainline titles. In the end it all ended up being a bit messy. I still like the series a lot, but I don't know, Square Enix and there questionable business practices strike again I suppose. 13 hours ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said: My anticipation for kh2 was so beyond anything I'd ever experienced, that when I play the CD OST's in my car I feel every bit as moved as when I put that game into my PS2 in 2006. The Re:Mind DLC saved KH3's trophy list IMO. KH3 had been a phenomenal game, but a lack of a critical difficulty, or any difficulty period was really odd. KH3 on it's initial release was great, but it just... missed something. It missed the satisfaction of actually completing challenging things like KH2, not even just with trophies. The platinum is arguably the easiest in the series. Buuuuut then the Data Org fights from the DLC (with pro codes no less!) come in like a truck! And an additional Critical difficulty update! Definitely the greatest challenge that the entire series provides. If someone can get the Risk-Taker trophy, they can 100% the entire series. But oh man, the challenge there was customizable, more so than KH2's change of abilities! The pro codes make every battle incredibly unique considering you can tinker it to your liking, but the trophy demands that you keep nearly all of them on even through the base game and a majority of Data Org battles. It was a blast to play through KH3 with the added challenge, and I'd argue it's on par or maybe even outdoes KH2 in that regard. Even some of the speedrunning tech in KH2 can be executed in KH3's Data Org battles, it's cool stuff. I will agree that someone going into KH3 without an understanding of the overall story will be really confused. It makes sense since it's a sequel of course, but with additions like DDD and BbS, you need a looooot of knowledge on the characters. The beauty of KH2 was that you needed really little understanding of the context; I'd argue not fully understanding things puts a new player directly into the shoes of Roxas which is really cool, it's like you're discovering things at the same pace as him, and it'd strangely give new players more of a way to relate to him than players of KH1 and COM. With KH3, you need to know the story of Xehanort, his manipulation on Terra, Aqua's sacrifice, Ventus being trapped, Sora's heart being in Ventus, Xigbar being a part of Xehanort and wanting to turn the Organization into an army of Xehanorts..... Don't get me wrong, KH3 has an awesome story, but it's just a lot more complex if someone doesn't know the full picture. I'd tie KH3 with KH2 as the best in the series since they have each have incredible aspects to them. The huge advantage KH2 has is that it's villains, being the Organization, were relatively new to the series at the time, so you really didn't need any prior knowledge. To be fair, the Organization was technically introduced in COM, but Sora isn't aware of COM's events either, so not knowing the Organization allows a new player to project with Sora just like Roxas. It's really a weird paradox, huh... You get something unique out of the game if you're aware of the previous stories or not. ? The only plot issues for new players that I can think of is the whole Riku-Ansem thing and the promise to Namine but that's about it. Xemnas is easily one of the best villains in gaming IMO, because you can sort of sympathize with him wanting a heart and dreading his life as a nobody (this is something I find that DDD kinda contradicts I think). I found the writing genuinely genius where Sora was trapped in a sort of ultimatum where he had to defeat the heartless to save innocent worlds, but doing so would inadvertently help the Organization reach their goal of accessing Kingdom Hearts. It put Sora in a sticky situation and it had me wondering what he'd do next. The music is also phenomenal, the Cavern of Remembrance is such an iconic piece-- It's the toughest area in the game but it's juxtaposed with a really beautiful melody and instrumentation. Yoko Shimomura does an incredible job with the series. Xemnas' final boss music is stellar as well, each phase of the fight having it's own part of the song really gives each part of it a lot of personality. It's incredible what music can do in any medium and form of art. Quote @rjkclarke: You know, that really isn't the response I expected. That whole reply was a really interesting read, so thanks for that. I always worry when I discuss things with a very large fandom, that what I'm saying will get taken out of context. I'm so glad that it didn't. I guess I should apologise for even thinking you might fly off the handle. Wanted to include this quote in an edit, but it doesn't let me directly quote it so I just had to awkwardly copy it and put your name at the top, it'll make do I suppose! ? Don't even worry about this man. You don't need to apologize for having an opinion. Fans of the KH series come from every corner, we all have our differing views on the series. I love to hear different takes, and what you say matters, it opened up a discussion like this one! ? I love hearing what you and @Deadly_Ha_Ha have said about KH on this thread. Edited August 25, 2021 by Shrooba 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjkclarke Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 (edited) Sorry for not really responding ln quite a while! I read both of the previous responses, I just wanted to be in a better head space before I replied to them, because they are so well crafted and deserve a better response than I think I could have given yesterday. So, why did I need a better head space? That Bloodlust trophy on Final Fantasy IX - it's getting to me a bit now, that it still hasn't unlocked yet. I fully expected to end up thinking the worst trophy in Final Fantasy IX is actually the jump rope trophy. Well, it isn't....... It's this one. It's not difficult remotely, it's just such a monotonous test of patience. It just sapped me a bit, I was planning to write a review to add in here yesterday, but as each hour ticked by and the trophy still didn't unlock I just thought, really? I'm sure it's been about 15 hours now, running back and forth in the same room. This is why I left it until before I'd finished the story, because I didn't want my lingering memory of Final Fantasy IX to be abject boredom, which thankfully it won't be. Fingers crossed it will unlock later. I'll make sure to write a review later even if that pain the backside trophy doesn't unlock. It'll be a classic review of some sort. I'm sort of tempted to write one for Linger in Shadows - just because earlier in the thread I remember saying to @DrBloodmoney that when he writes one for Aabs Animals, that'll be signal to write one for that - I suspect I'll have an easier job though, because at least Linger in Shadows is slightly more of a game. If that ends up being really short, I'll just write a longer one about something else too. I need to read your latest scientific rankings by the way, but it might not be for a couple of hours. @YaManSmevz - I'm almost feeling the itch to dive back into Tomb Raider soon, so maybe I'll give it like another week and then dive into the recent trilogy. If you're still wanting to read some of my ramblings about them. I can't promise anything though, I change my mind on what game I want to write about all the time, but obviously I'll get to them eventually, one way or another. I'll just have to try really hard not to write " I wish this was Keeley Hawes still playing Lara" another 400 times on my keyboard frantically before passing out. @Deadly_Ha_Ha - That story was fantastic. One of those examples of being a bit gutted I can only give out one rep point per post. Thanks for sharing that! If anyone ever wondered why you love Kingdom Hearts so much.... Well, now they couldn't possibly question it. You've even gotten a tattoo - now that is dedication. I don't think there's that many things in gaming that have really connected with me like that, so that was great to read about where someone's incredibly deep rooted passion for a specific game series comes from. If I ran on cold hard logic - which I absolutely don't by the way, that would tell me I should go and get some sort of Monkey Island related tattoo. Yes I have a Metal Gear Solid avatar, but it's not my favourite video game series. I've never really given it all that much thought, what my favourite video game series is truth be told. I'm sure when I was about 20, it would have been Metal Gear no questions asked. @Shrooba - That was a great read too. It's a great point you made about Roxas being a pretty good new player audience conduit. That opening to Kingdom Hearts 2 was very well realised actually. One of the few examples of a tutorial section being both really good, and actually tied in with the story in a tangible way. Although, I'm very much not aboard the " I love Roxas" train - I like him, but he does become quite a whiny bitch in some of the later titles he appears in. He just seems a bit I don't know, self entitled? I understand why he is like that of course, but that doesn't stop me finding him a little frustrating as a character. That post also reiterated my belief I'm firmly in the minority for thinking Kingdom Hearts 1 is the best one (I'm fine with that too haha) - that's a holdover from me being massively passionate about film I think. Film is often done best when it's something fairly simple executed incredibly well. That's not always the case in film of course. Kingdom Hearts 1 I've always thought was an incredible proof of concept of how you could mix elements of Final Fantasy, it's own original ideas and Disney into one big cooking pot. It's an idea that most people who hadn't heard of the series, or you were purely just pitching it as a concept - would probably look at you as if you'd thrown their most beloved pet into a wood chipper, well maybe not that, but they'd certainly be confused....... Now I'm off track and confused. Looks like I'm back to stupidly vague metaphors again haha ?..... You know the famous song associated with the first game.... Simple and Clean - almost sums up the game perfectly. I guess I like my stories a lot less convoluted. Which is so ironic considering I love Metal Gear Solid haha! Introducing key elements in mobile games and then making the series even more convoluted by adding elements of time travel, just made me kind of think why? Did you need to do any of that.... They did, so there's no point me really complaining about it. I still like those games, I just kind of wonder why they overcomplicated them more than they needed to. I'll also never forgive them, that they made the 100 Acre Wood rubbish in Kingdom Hearts 3 - again, that's a wholly unpopular opinion, but I bloody loved hanging out with Winnie the Pooh, he makes me laugh far more than he ever should - especially considering how dark my sense of humour can go on occasion. You'll get no argument from me about the music in Kingdom Hearts being amazing - that's one of the things that's absolutely never changed across the entire series. Good shout about the Cavern of remembrance. The series soundtrack as a whole has such an incredible level of detail too it. Much like the NieR/Drakengard series does. Which is probably a huge part of what makes those games so memorable for me. Thanks for adding that little addendum by the way about me not worrying about apologising for having an opinion - I just, really hate conflict of any sort, so I always try to avoid that potentially happening wherever possible. So that usually strays into being a bit overcautious. Well - this was a long post, that ended up with quite a bit of tagging in it, which wasn't exactly deliberate, but necessary I think. I'm really hoping that 10,000 kills trophy happens today! Edited August 28, 2021 by rjkclarke 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaManSmevz Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 No Keeley Hawes in Tomb Raider Makes rjk a Dull Boy No Keeley Hawes in Tomb Raider Makes rjk a Dull Boy No Keeley Hawes in Tomb Raider Makes rjk a Dull Boy ...okay I'ma stop doing that... Don't play anything on my account, I'll happily read whatever you put out! Also you're probably closer to 10k than you think. I'm sorry to hear that it's wearing you down, but it'll be all the more satisfying once that guy finally pops! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcesius Posted August 27, 2021 Share Posted August 27, 2021 17 hours ago, rjkclarke said: So, why did I need a better head space? That Bloodlust trophy on Final Fantasy IX - it's getting to me a bit now, that it still hasn't unlocked yet. I fully expected to end up thinking the worst trophy in Final Fantasy IX is actually the jump rope trophy. Well, it isn't....... It's this one. It's not difficult remotely, it's just such a monotonous test of patience. It just sapped me a bit, I was planning to write a review to add in here yesterday, but as each hour ticked by and the trophy still didn't unlock I just thought, really? I'm sure it's been about 15 hours now, running back and forth in the same room. This is why I left it until before I'd finished the story, because I didn't want my lingering memory of Final Fantasy IX to be abject boredom, which thankfully it won't be. Fingers crossed it will unlock later. Yeah I didn't want to say anything, but this trophy is among the worst ones I have ever earned. I spent over 15 in Gizamalukes Grotto, and as the hours passed by, I started questioning my gaming habits ? It is a terrible trophy that has absolutely no place in a game like this. I hope it pops for you soon! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBloodmoney Posted August 27, 2021 Share Posted August 27, 2021 17 hours ago, rjkclarke said: I'll make sure to write a review later even if that pain the backside trophy doesn't unlock. It'll be a classic review of some sort. I'm sort of tempted to write one for Linger in Shadows - just because earlier in the thread I remember saying to @DrBloodmoney that when he writes one for Aabs Animals, that'll be signal to write one for that - I suspect I'll have an easier job though, because at least Linger in Shadows is slightly more of a game. If that ends up being really short, I'll just write a longer one about something else too. I need to read your latest scientific rankings by the way, but it might not be for a couple of hours. Haha - sorry about that mate - I did remember, and had your prophetic curse in the back of my mind when I was writing Aabs up! ? I had half a notion to actually assign you as the "Priority Assignment" name to Aabs, just as a little goof - but I didn't want to sully your good name to those not in on the joke! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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