The Final Final Fantasy (15) -- Part 3

You know, sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder: “Did I ever like Final Fantasy?”

Actually, no I don’t.  That’s a bold lie, but I have to start this post somehow.

What’s the Key to a Good Combat System?

If we’re being completely honest here, I’ve never been in a fight.  I count myself lucky that the closest I’ve ever come to fisticuffs is some guy accidentally hitting me in the stomach while I zipped up my backpack.  Even if fighting is something that’s glorified -- in games, in movies, in media at large -- it’s not as glamorous as it sounds.  People can get hurt, and I seem to recall an episode of How I Met Your Mother where the consequence of a fight was a lawsuit for assault.  Moral of the story: don’t get into a fight.  Especially with Marshall.  That dude’s crazy.

Hopefully, the closest I’ll get to throwing down is a round of video games.  I’d like to think that a person can play them without fear of getting punched in the face (unless they’re having a Mario Party session), and seeing as how games thrive on virtual conflict, it’s no surprise that they’re pretty good at it.  Slashing up demons, kicking rival fighters, grappling foes into oblivion, it’s all there.  And despite the fact that I put on airs of wanting higher-class art for the medium, that’s not entirely true; I’m no stranger to a good Heavenly Potemkin Buster.

So you know what?  Let’s take time out to talk about combat in video games -- and what makes it good.

Season's Wii-tings: The Wonderful 101

Let me be upfront about The Wonderful 101, before I get too swept up in the words to come.

The Wonderful 101 is not -- I repeat -- is NOT the greatest game ever created.  It is not the be-all and end-all of video game potential.  It is not the automatic winner of Game of the Year, merely because it exists.

It is not a perfect game.  In fact, at times it can be surprisingly frustrating.  I don’t agree with its detractors -- and I know there are some out there -- but I respect their opinions.  I know what they’re talking about.

But with all that in mind, let me say, conclusively, from the start, that The Wonderful 101 is a good, good, good, good, DAMN GOOD GAME.  

So much so that I’m going to do something I don’t do very often.

*deep breath* The time has come.

Let’s discuss Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Part 2).

You know, I’m reminded of a conversation I had with my brother a couple of weeks ago.  He was really excited about the then-upcoming release of Revengeance; knowing that I tended to keep a pulse on game reviews, he asked me if I thought it would get good scores -- especially in comparison to the fresh-on-the-market DmC.  I gave him my prediction.  “No, it probably won’t get good reviews.  There’s no denying that it’ll be good, but the scores won’t be as high as DmC’s.  People will probably say the story is stupid, or confusing, or something.  Or some other flaw.”

And then the scores started popping up.  And indeed, it has seen some favorable reviews -- not enough to put its Metacritic score over DmC’s, but it is a close race.  That length seems to be a major sticking point.

But if there’s one thing that I’m starting to learn as of late, it’s that reviews are merely a suggestion of quality, not a confirmation of it.  Maybe my standards have just become annoyingly high in the last few years, but the sheer number of nines and tens from the gaming press seem to be less and less likely to translate into a “great game, great experience”, at least in my eyes.  I’m the kind of guy who READS the reviews, not just glances at the score.  And when I read about issues with the new Tomb Raider and issues with the new God of War, I’m starting to fear that I need to start magnifying those problems to figure out if a game is right for me.  Maybe I need to be doubly-negative.  If reviewers won’t be critical, I guess I’ll have to.

Which brings us back to Raiden’s Ass Kicking Jamboree.

WARNING: You are in for a crap-ton of spoilers if you read carelessly, so if you’re looking to play the game first with a fresh perspective, do so immediately.  Also, don’t do what I did and forget that the Select button lets you access the Codec and plenty of conversations with your pals.  Cripes, I’m terrible at Metal Gear games…

Let’s discuss Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Part 1).

It’s great.  Go play it.

What, you want more delicious words?  All right.  If you say so...

Two games enter, one game leaves…

Well.  This is a unique situation.

I honestly can’t remember the last time something like this happened, if at all.  I’ve managed to finish two games -- two GREAT games, I might add -- within about a day of each other.  Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Xenoblade Chronicles are both notches on my belt now, and it’s only natural that I give them both proper Let’s Discuss posts.  Problem is, I don’t know which one to tackle first.

On the one hand, I’ve been putting Xenoblade off for months now (for reasons I still can’t explain (besides laziness)), and having finished it I feel like I need to go over bits and pieces of it.  On the other hand, Revengeance is so damn good that even if it is on the short side, I’m already thinking of playing through it again…and since finishing it, the game’s been on my mind for an almost-unhealthy amount of time.  Either way, both games are much-needed respites from schlock like Final Fantasy 13-2 and DmC, and have helped give my palate a full scrub-down.  And it’s quite possible that these games -- one or even BOTH -- are good enough to make it into my personal and currently hypothetical Top Ten.  The only way to know for sure is to get these things written up and posted here on Cross-Up.

But which one gets the first swing?  Well, I think I’ll leave that up to you all.

Here’s what we’re going to do.  Whoever comments first on this post gets to decide which game will get a Let’s Discuss post first.  What will it be?  One of the greatest JRPGs of this generation?  Or the action game primed to become one of 2013’s best?  It’s all in your hands, readers -- so make it count!

Decide the destiny!  FIGHT!

I Hraet You, Revengeance

Confession time: this was originally going to be a post dedicated solely to I Hraet You.

I’ve been thinking about the story a lot recently and what I want to do next.  I have a pretty solid idea of where this next chunk of chapters will go; whereas the first part was all about Lloyd discovering his powers and the stakes and consequences, this one will have him put his skills to the test.  He’ll have to become aware of his weaknesses -- even those that he didn’t know existed (and if you’re savvy enough, you’ve probably figured out what one of them might be).  He’ll have to put himself out there to “save” people he couldn’t save before.  And most of all, he’ll take a step forward in realizing his dream…and building the unbridled world of love he so…uh…loves.

There are still things that I need to do, though, and I’ll get to them in a moment.  But there’s been a slight change of plans.  See, I tried out Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance not too long ago, and if you’ve been following this blog you may know that I’ve been very concerned about it.  I’ve been worried about its quality, its reception, its status relative to the less-than-pleasant DmC, and its effect on me.  Would I end up hating it?  Would I end up being ousted as a hypocrite?  Would I tear apart a game that seemed like the last bastion of stylish crazy action?

Several times in the past -- and here on this very blog -- I said something like “Let’s see how Metal Gear Rising turns out.”  Well, it’s out.

And it is amazing.