Of court cases and magical appendages

To those interested, I'm done with my first Conan episode and now I'm waiting for someone to complete the ending song and then re-encode the subtitles. I'll let you know whenever it is available, should you be interested in seeing the final results (I'll try and post the original subtitles as well for comparison, although you could just as easily find them on most torrent sites). Now, to the heart of the matter:

Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations (Nintendo DS)

I love the Phoenix Wright series. There's no denying that. To me, it's like I'm getting to experience that "Detective Conan" feeling of investigation, confrontation and resolution at my own pace. So, it may be somewhat unfair for me to be telling you how I feel about the game, because I have a love affair with the genre. That said, if you're interested in such things, the game is very good. It's not as "fresh" or unique as it was when the original came out on the DS (or GBA in Japan), and while many of the jokes are carry over jokes from the previous two games (or "inside jokes" from those two games), as a whole the game still flows very well. Just because it does not match up to the same feelings I had when I played the first one - eyes glazing over after several hours of play, trying to fight sleep as I wanted to hear just one more "OBJECTION!" - does not mean that it is a bad game. To their credit, Trials and Tribulations is a faithful extension of proven gameplay... for better (almost always) or worse (sometimes).

The game does a good job of handling the possibility that this is the first Phoenix Wright game you pick up: The first case is largely a tutorial, a simple, short case designed mostly to explain how the game works. This is great, but I would NOT suggest playing this game first. Without giving away too much, the stories of Trials and Tribulations are very tightly wound to the plot of the first two games. You'll be spoiled left and right to all kinds of plot points and most of the character interactions will seem very bizzare without explanation (a large number of "inside jokes" revolves around the characters involved). While you will still enjoy Trials and Tribulations if it's the first one you've played, you should certainly do yourself a favor and play the first two games (again, preferably in order) to get the most out of the game.

In terms of gameplay, there is hardly much difference between the three, so veterans should notice nothing new here. I will say that, in Trials and Tribulations, I found myself stuck less often, mostly due to better "puzzle" design. What I mean by this is that the actions you need to take are more obvious, but they will usually still be challenging or require at least some thought before you are able to solve them. The game is not easier, per se, it just seems like the cases follow a much more logical progression than some of the other games did. Trials and Tribulations seems to involve some of the largest cases yet, despite the fact that I recall none of the cases reaching the third day (In the original game, it was noted that all cases MUST have reached a verdict by the third day, I presume to help add a sense of urgency or pressure to the plot device. Even so, most of the cases in Trials and Tribulations are over by day 2... they are just 2 very long days!) These cases are accompanied by more investigations and more character interactions during the pre-trial phase of the game... and the only gripe I have with this is that the way you are required to move around starts to become tiresome, especially as you are backtracking to try and find that piece of evidence you've missed or to talk to a character again to move the plot forward. It's not something that destroys the gameplay or the immersion, but it does become frustrating towards the end when you have unlocked several new places to investigate. Usually this method of travel is a necessity, as you can place important, scripted plot elements to begin because you know the player will be forced to backtrack to a certain location, but the pre-trial areas could've used a bit more organization to help with this (small) complaint. The only other complaint is that this is still a port of the GBA games, and is not specifically designed for the DS (like the last case of the first game, or of the new game "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney"

However, this is nothing more than mere quibbling. The story is top notch, the humor is spot on and the third game really helps to flesh out the relationships between all of the characters. This game is a great way to wrap up the Phoenix Wright trio of games and helped to ease the pain of waiting for the truly DS-inspired version, Apollo Justice (speaking of which, I hope to be starting this soon, too). Not to mention there is also talk of a Prosecutor-inspired "spin off" involving everyone's favorite prosecuting prodigy, Miles Edgeworth, and Phoenix Wright fans really have something to celebrate.

Overall, I have no "OBJECTION!" to this game and, in fact, highly recommend it if you have played the first two. If you haven't, then just "HOLD IT!" while you play the first two games and catch up to the Wright phenomenon. As long as you are willing to "TAKE THAT!" game lightly and allow yourself to get into the humor and characters, you will find yourself enjoying yet another amazing game on your Nintendo DS. (I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself...)


Enchanted Arms (Xbox 360... apparently PS3 as well, but I played on the 360)

I've said this before, and suppose I should say again, that I'm a large fan of RPG-style games. MMO-, S-, J-, and even Action-RPG's are all genre's that I will generally favor over others when deciding what to play. There's just something intoxicating about leveling up and being a part of a well crafted narrative that really seems to pull me in. Of the above, J-RPGs are usually my RPG of choice, followed closely by S-RPG's (that's "Strategy RPG" to those who don't know, such as Final Fantasy Tactics and the like). Of course, anyone who looks at what I've been playing recently can tell this (Fire Emblem, Advanced Wars, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms, FFXII, etc), so let's not beat a dead horse here. When I first heard about Enchanted Arms, it was mainly negative news: "linear gameplay", "random battles", "lots of story"... until, of course, you realize that these people were not disappointed with Enchanted Arms as much as they were disappointed with an entire genre of games. After reading that it combines my two favorite RPG's - the story, leveling and progresion of a JRPG with an S-RPG like "battle grid" battle system, well, I knew I just had to see this for myself.

First, the game has faults. LOTS of them. Most of them DO NOT stem from the fact that it is an RPG, so much as one that is not handled well. The game does involve random battles, something Blue Dragon had done away with and has since spoiled me upon, so initially random battles seem barbaric or, at the very least, archaic. I understand the downsides of having a random battle system and even agree on several grounds. If you want to just progress through the story - or a certian area - I feel you should be allowed without being brutally and mercilessly punished for wanting to do so. Random battle systems usually tend to stifle - not encourage - exploration, mostly because you don't want to have to sit through YET ANOTHER battle when you've been through so many already just to see what is inside yonder chest, or (even more so) to read about some of the game's backstory or other non-trivial event. I don't understand how this makes sense to designers who have spent countless hours meticulously crafting and creating a completely new world for you to explore, considering they must realize that you won't go and search every nook and cranny if you're going to have to fight that giant sewer rat for the 20th time. Aside from these glaringly obvious problems, in order to even accept the fate of random battles, you need to really like the battle system; then, battles become more of a rare treat than they do a constant interruption. Fortunately for Enchanted Arms, that is it's one saving grace, but I will save that for whenever we get around to the games successes... if we even can, the list of faults is not exactly small.

The story - usually considered to be one of the 3 pillars required to even attempt to build a good RPG - is at worst laughably cliche and, at best, hopelessly uninspired. Young, cocky boy has mystical powers and comes to find the truth about himself and his powers through a relentless assult of increasingly difficult fights, only to end up saving the world as the now un-flawed hero. Add onto this fact that the story is told by way of two characters being shown side by side on screen at the same time (similar to, say, Fire Emblem... but using their actual 3d character models and not 2d art) and some incredibly annoying voice acting (who on earth thought that including a "metro" character, complete with annoying, high pitched, whiny voice, would be a smart move?) and you're on your way to simply mashing the 'a' button and trying to make it through the story as fast as possible. In an RPG, desperately trying to skip through the story is the gaming equivalent of the "kiss of death". This ain't no FPS. You aren't here to blow things up or get back to killing guys. You're here for a compelling narrative. Without that, what are you here for? The two remaining pillars, generally, are the leveling mechanisms (equipment, stats, materia, etc) and the battle system. Could two pillars be enough to hold up an RPG? We'll see.

The leveling mechanism in Enchanted Arms is relatively straightforward (kill guys --> gain exp --> become stronger) but with an interesting twist. Your character levels on it's own by means of EXP, but you also have 'SP' which you gain from battles to increase your stats even more or to learn new skills. The twist with SP is that you gain more the more strategically you play. You gain more SP when you do damage over the enemies maximum health, or even more SP when you do damage over 2x the enemies maximum health. Obviously, this could be brute-forced simply by over leveling your characters to the point of one-hit-killing everything... but what's the point, when this only helps you gain in power (which you had to do to brute-force it anyway)? Instead, it is one of the few RPG systems I've used that actually REWARDS you for thinking out how you battle and not just randomly hitting "attack" until the enemy dies so you can move on to the next one. The easiest way to get double SP is to get your characters to "combo" onto an enemy, which means you must first attack together to increase their combo gauge and then release attacks on the same enemy at the same time. The whole process is simple in theory but becomes somewhat more challenging in practice, where unit placement, EP limitations, current combo gauge status and current character status can all come into play. Is one character low on health and might die if you do the combo? These are decisions that must be made. It turns RPG's battling system on it's head: suddenly, you need to be actively involved in every battle in order to get the most out of the system. For those purely in it for the story (I'm SO sorry...) you can tell the game to just automate the battle for you and away you go. Granted, you're missing out on the only thing that makes Enchanted Arms worth playing, so why do that to yourself?

The Battle System itself is not without it's flaws, but it is an impressive blending of RPG and tactical, grid-based battles. Placement matters. Areas of affect matter. You can't just cure everyone unless you are properly placed for it. You can select "Blizzaga --> all" and attack all enemies all the time. Different attacks have different strengths and weaknesses. Your most powerful attacks cost the most amount of EP (think of it as "Energy Points", although I'm not sure if that is the official name or not) so you can't just continuously spam them throughout the battle. Using smaller, lighter attacks to build up combos and then finishing enemies off with your bigger attacks help to maximize SP gains and therefore minimize the amount of "grinding" you'll need to do (more on that later). Overall, the battle system is both impressive and engrossing, as it is perhaps one of the only times in an RPG where you will actually need to apply a strategy to battles other than boss fights. The only questionable addition is the "golems" which you can use in lieu of your actual human party members. Why you would want to use these (except in times where you don't have all 4 members) is beyond me, as they are generally less flexible than any of the human characters. They cannot learn new skills and will almost always require some amount of leveling up after you have received them to get them on-par with their human counterparts. While it would have been cool to have the golems act as an in-battle "swappable" 5th character that allows you to customize your team depending upon your current situation, since the golems do not gain SP unless they are being used the farther you get the less likely you are to use them. The idea really shows some promise - especially considering how many different golems there are in the game already - but, overall, was not really helpful or useful in any real way. Think of it as the "status effect" magic of Enchanted Arms; it's there, but nobody bothers to use it.

By halfway in, I wasn't playing for the story so much as I was playing for the challenge of facing the next enemy or the next boss. Here, perhaps, is the last great gripe about Enchanted Arms: the difficulty is very stupidly paced. There are several "choke" points in the game (for me, anyway) that seem to be designed specifically to make you grind more. I haven't felt like I had to grind levels this bad since I tried to play Final Fantasy III and IV. Granted, there is a difference between a natural level progression - like in World of Warcraft, where you feel you are advancing in some way and constantly moving forward - and pointless level progression, or "grinding", where you are merely being punished by the game for not being powerful enough to face a boss and must run around in some nearby forest to try and kill 100 of the same set of enemies and try again. I understand that these kinds of things can happen in games that don't invoke random battling, since you can chose to skip everything and eventually have to pay for not leveling your characters, but in a game where you are being constantly (and rudely) interrupted in your drive to play the game in order to partake in a battle? The ONE saving grace should be that you don't have to go back and do it again... and again... and again. Perhaps I didn't do enough side quests (except for the last "choke" boss, I doubt it). Perhaps I wasn't approaching the strategy of the battle the right way (unlikely). Whatever the case, the bosses should NOT have been that hard. Even though I did like the battle system, I almost gave up on completing the game because of the time I thought would be required to grind out levels to finish those bosses (in the end, I relied on some skill and a lot of luck to get through the "choke" points).

Somehow, despite all of it's flaws, Enchanted Arms became a game that I just could not put down. If any normal RPG that has no real story, it becomes pointless to play: you are just mashing "a" to get past story and mashing "a" to get past fights, so where's the fun? Enchanted Arms goes from "Hopeless" to "Entertaining, yet flawed" simply by including a fresh, tactically driven battle and leveling system that can really drag you in and keep you playing. It's not enough to make it "incredible", but I do hope that they can make a sequel or reuse this battle system in a new IP that includes better characters and a REAL story. Then, they could actually start contending with the "big guns" like Final Fantasy and Lost Odyssey and help to propel JRPG's to newer and better things. Until then, well... I can recommend Enchanted Arms if you, like me, love Japanese Strategy Role Play Games... just don't expect iconic characters or an interesting narrative. I wouldn't exactly chalk it up there as a "must play" but for a low priced used game you'll get a surprising amount of entertainment from it in between all the big AAA title releases we'll be seeing this year.


For the curious, here's what I'm currently hacking away at in my spare time:

Puzzle Quest (DS + XBLA)
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
Mass Effect (360)

Here there be Azure Dragons

With my first re-subbing of Conan finished (I'll let you know where to get it, if you're interested in seeing it), it is now time to finish my promised blog post: namely, my impressions of Blue Dragon.

Firstly - and most importantly, perhaps - I finished Blue Dragon a long time ago. Probably been over a month since I played it. I can still say, without a doubt, it is one of the better RPGs that I have played in my lifetime.

To compare it to Chrono Trigger would be a great disservice to ChronoTrigger, as that game is one that will stand the test of time as one of the great RPG classics. However, to completely ignore their similarities would be unfair to Blue Dragon. Of course, one would expect Blue Dragon to be similar to Chrono Trigger since it is essentially the same creative minds working on those two games (composer, character designer and game designer were all the same... and all very famous in the RPG genre, although I suppose I can spare you the details if you didn't already know that). So, if you think of Blue Dragon as an 'HD' version of Chrono Trigger... well, you wouldn't be far off. Just do not mistake yourself into thinking it will be a timeless classic. I loved it, and will certainly play it again in my lifetime, but it still won't compare to the likes of FFVII or Chrono Trigger. However, there is nothing wrong with be a "really good RPG", now is there?

Perhaps the two most important elements to an RPG are it's story and characters. With a few exceptions, Blue Dragon excels at neither (I do like the enemies and a few of the major plot twists) but that does not mean that it fails at them, either. The characters fit the style; that is to say, they are your basic anime characters transposed into a video game. They are young (at first glance, exceptionally so, although you come to learn they are much older than they look... somehow), stubborn, and very expressive. What is unique, I feel, from many RPGs of late is that the main character is not "emo". He isn't pouting or complaining or thinking the world is unfair or out to get him. In fact, Shu (the main character) is unervingly upbeat. When he's down he doesn't sulk or cower, he just yells "I won't give up", gets up, and tries again. Compare this to, say, Squall or Tidus, who were more prone to whining and sulking, and it makes for a much cheerier mood. Of course, given the light, cartoony look everything has to it, it is rather difficult to see something as sad or depressing. Expressions and Voice Acting help to overcome this, adding to the depth of emotion available, but compared to a more "realistic" and bland style, Blue Dragon is a much more light hearted experience.

The characters themselves are not as iconic or loveable (no Robo, no Frog, etc) as ChronoTrigger, but the vivid expressions and acceptable voice acting (save marumaro, who sounds more like someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard than anything else) help to give the otherwise bland characters a bit more life. The use of the "Dragons", which more or less act as your actual fighting force (your characters themselves do not attack save for a few special instances, and instead the dragons to everything you command) helps to set the characters apart even more. I wish they had made the 'minotaur' dragon look less emaciated and more powerful, but that doesn't fit Jiro's character. By the end, when you obtain the characters "limit-break" like power, and the dragons go from being ethereal shadows to actual mortal beings, the graphical detail and the power of HD really shine through to give you one of those "wow" type moments that I haven't really felt since first watching a summon in FFVII. I have no idea why you cannot access this power until very, VERY late in the game... but, hey, that's how it is.

Perhaps the worst part about Blue Dragon is that the story starts out very, VERY slow. Between the bland characters, the constant loading and the erratic pace, it is really hard to get into it. The game tries to be epic from the start - you begin the game sitting under a windmill with a calm sky and lullabye-like music, and then 15 seconds later (almost all of which is loading) you are being attacked by a land shark (very FFX "Sin"-esque). By the time you've met all the characters, gotten dragged away from your home and tried to go through all the tutorial type stuff... you start to wonder where this is going or why you care. Nothing seems to really click in the beginning. Even I, as desperate as I was to play a JRPG, was wondering why I had thought I wanted to play one of these kind of games again. Give it a few hours, though, and the game finally starts to take on a life of it's own. I can't tell you where, as it will more than likely differ on when you are finally piqued by the characters or the story, but once you are hooked the mix of character interaction, plot and just standard RPG-faire "level up" gameplay will keep you wanting to come back for more. I can't claim that the story is very original (although, to it's credit, a good bit of it is) and it is by no means complex or thought provoking, but as a mechanism for driving you to want to get farther and see more of it... well, once it gets going, it takes off and keeps going even until the very end.

Gameplay is rather standard by RPG means - nothing fancy like the gambit system or strange like the junction system - but the way you can customize your dragon's class and the fact that you can "power up" your moves so they take longer but pack a bigger punch means that there is a large amount of strategy involved in how you plan your attacks. In most turn based RPGs, battling is rather one sided. You either attack almost all the time, because magic is too costly to use on anything but a boss, or you use magic and summons constantly because it is in great abundance and just attacking would take forever (less damage, single target). Very few RPGs can mix these two perfectly to create a true "strategy" to battling - that is to say, not just repeatedly choosing the same option - but the jobs and skills available to you in Blue Dragon combined with the "power up" make it to where you won't often find yourself "just pressing a" over and over.

Speaking of battling, the level pacing is actually rather lenient, given the genre. I never ran into a boss that was so difficult that I just had to 'grind' and level my characters for hours, which is pretty impressive given that - like Chrono Trigger - you can choose to evade enemies if you so choose. Usually, that means that you end up being under leveled since you skip as many enemies as possible because battling becomes repetitive. The fact that battling involves actual strategy and is more involved - makes it to where I didn't find myself skipping battles too often, so I was always prepared. The only time I had to "grind" was for those extra hard bosses that you can beat after the last boss, and since those are really side quests meant for those who an infatuated with the game and want to do everything and overcome every challenge (read: me) I don't find it very fair to fault the game for that. You'll find that you spend more time enjoying the game than you do mindlessly leveling... always a plus in a game this long. You will get your money's worth out of this game. It was a good 40 hours for the whole game, not including a few miscellaneous side quests and except for those first few slow hours, it is very enjoyable.

Music for the game is, in my opinion, some of Nobuo Uematsu's best work to date. While it may not become as nostalgic as Final Fantasy VII's soundtrack, and nothing can even begin to touch the majesty and power of "One Winged Angel", especially orchestrated or in it's Advent Children form, but the Blue Dragon soundtrack still gets quite alot of playtime on my ipod. From the gentle piano of "Waterside" to the all-out rockin' boss battle music "Eternity", Uematsu really goes all out in his compositions and each song finds it's own way to move you. The music goes very well with each character (the Devee dance music is both catchy and hilarious) and really helps to set the mood throughout the game. Audibly, you couldn't ask for better.

Really, what else is there to say? Gameplay is "old school" but involved, music is superb, the graphics are crisp and refreshingly not brown, the story (eventually) grips you and there is alot of replay potential (did I mention a New Game + option?). Sure, it's nothing new or innovative. Yes, there's some graphical slowdown and tearing. Yes, there's tons of loading. Yes, the game is story is slow. Like any game (even the coveted FFVII), there are faults. But the overall experience far outweighs any of the negatives.

In case you are wondering, no, this game is not quite good enough to be tossed around with games like FFVI, FFVII, or Chrono Trigger. Someone who does not play JRPGs will find almost nothing of interest here, and it's not something they will have heard or perhaps even be interested in playing (as opposed to something like FFVII or Mass Effect, which are either "Timeless classics" or "Action Games with RPG elements"), but for anyone who enjoys a good JRPG I can not stress enough how much you should play this game. You will not regret it, and if you do, I can't imagine how you enjoy other JRPGs... unless you just really, really hate an anime style. So do yourself a favor - go play it. Buy it, even. You won't regret it.

-- Edit --

I forgot to add... what would you like me to review next? Take just about any game I've mentioned in previous posts (Enchanted Arms, Phoenix Wright, etc), or you may also choose Saint's Row (just finished yesterday), Smash Brothers Brawl, my early impressions of Fire Emblem Wii, or my final impressions of Advanced Wars. I haven't decided if I'll start Lost Odyssey or Mass Effect next, but those are possible candidates, too).