Game of the Year 2010!!

1:

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360):

Final Fantasy XIII was the game I enjoyed the most this year. When I bought my PS3 a few years ago, this was the game which proved the push I needed to plunk the dough for the machine. Fast forward to 2010 and the lead up to the release date was a bit of a frenzy, but the moment I popped the game in the PS3 and the introduction started playing, I was stunned into silence. Here was a game which I had waited for 4 years, was finally mine and for me the wait was well worth it.

Final Fantasy XIII's tale about a band of heroes who have been cursed by the gods and their ordeal in trying to fulfill their goals has all the moments one find in a top tier JRPG. The narrative was really strong, I mean SquareEnix's risky move to streamline everything was also felt in the plot. Unlike previous Final Fantasy games where the story would take it time to develop, in Final Fantasy XIII the plot is fast paced up to the point where I was overawed pretty much the whole game by the roller coaster ride of a plot. Sure the complexity of the storyline from previous games is missing, but the new focused approach is still refreshing, esp in the JRPG genre. By the time the end dungeon loomed over I was emotionally exhausted and right now I cannot wait for the conclusion of the intriguing sojourn.

Final Fantasy XIII is the greatest looking game ever made. No question. SquareEnix has outdone itself in the graphics department as I have never seen a game this beautiful. The attention to detail seen on the characters is mind-bending as the animation and facial expression are phenomenal to say the least. The background of all the locales are exquisite to gaze upon be it the sterile yet foreboding environments of Cocoon, or the vast and wild fields of Pulse, the visual are astounding. The art design of Final Fantasy XIII is just as vivid and totally over the top. Lightning's and Sazh's military outfits, or the unreal look of Vanille's dress are very impressive. The archeiture of both Cocoon and Pulse look fantastic as does the monster designs, but what took the cake was the Sari which Fang supports. Name any game where one of the main character wears a Sari.


What makes Final Fantasy XIII so strong artistically is that the art designs are pretty much original in nature. Most games this year had a template ready from the start for e.g Mass Effect 2's space theme or the Wild West of Red Dead Redemption. In Final Fantasy XIII the brain child of Tetsuya Nomura is at the forefront and all the artistic touches were wonderful, and this little fact makes this game artistically unbeatable.

The other aspect of the presentation which was pretty much flawless was the score, in fact I deem it as the best this year. Many fans of Final Fantasy were bitter when they heard that the veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobou Uematsu was not involved in XIII, but for me the day I heard that the guy who composed majority of the tracks in Final Fantasy X (Masashi Hamauzu) was the main composer for this game I was overjoyed and knew for a fact the score will be great.

I dunno about other gamers but Final Fantasy XIII evolution of the ATB system was a stroke of genius. ATB system is inherently kinda slow but in this game that little annoyance has been taken away completely as the battles are very fast and intense. Final Fantasy XIII system is the upgraded versions of the systems found in X-2 and XII, which I thought were a step in the right direction and in Final Fantasy XIII that system strikes the perfect balance. And then you add in the Job system which you can change mid battles brings about in amazing strategy in battles. The RPG mechanics are solid in this game as always the case in any Final Fantasy game along with customization options for weapons. All these makes for a fine game steeped in RPG tradition, presented in a new perspective.

In the last post I mentioned that Mass Effect 2 was one of two which I would think about constantly, the other game was Final Fantasy XIII. Even when not playing the game I would be thinking about particular battles, how to use the Job system effectively or just thinking about the plot. This game had me pegged like crazy.

As I near the end of this piece there are a couple of things which have bothered me no end concerning Final Fantasy XIII. Yes Final Fantasy XIII isn't the greatest game in the series, but it definitely among my top 10 Final Fantasy games (6th out of the 25 games released thus far in the series), but as a stand alone RPG this game is really incredible. I mean whats there not to like. You have a really involving story line, jaw dropping presentation and a very solid battle system. This a very polished JRPG and if you pit this game against other games in the genre this game will be quite high on my list.

Hence this brings me to my other point of contention. I feel it is very unfair to the game and the developers of the game to always compare Final Fantasy XIII with previous Final Fantasy games. I mean every game is very different from the other. Many elements found in one game is absent from the other, so why put the game through a ringer. As I said as an RPG this game is really amazing and I implore to the fanboys to stop hating the game. I think the fanboys only want Final Fantasy games to be made in Final Fantasy 7 mould (a game which may not even feature in my top 10 Final Fantasy games!!), and that I think is totally pointless. Play the game as its meant to be played, as an RPG!

And so 2010 comes to an end and with it also one of the greatest gaming years ever. Having played a load full of awesome games from many different genres, Final Fantasy XIII emerged as the best of the lot.

So we say adieu to the year 2010 and wait impatiently for the new year to roll in and all signs already point that gamers will have a ball in 2011!!

Thank You for the Games!

As I was surfing throgh my daily dosage of video game news I got to know that a couple of days was the day when PS2 got released and ushered an era of undisputed reign at the top of the video gaming ladder. The awesome numbers of games in almost all the genres is a true testament of how much of a stranglehold Sony had over the industry. This system has made its way into the pantheon of the gaming elites, so much that even after the HD generation is running full tilt many of us gamer still have their PS2 in working order. I know I still use the black machine from time to time.

I still remember going crazy as I oogled many screen shots of the PS2 launch and actually getting dizzy with anticipation due the graphics and announcement of many games. Yes the early games were not too great and not too much in number, but I knew that a time will come when the gates of Heaven will open to unleash a barrage of awesome games. ICO and Klonoa 2 were two of the games which started the rot, and also send me over the hill with my constant pestering get my dad to buy me a PS2. It was October 15, 2001 when my dad finally took me to the game shop and got me a PS2. I got around 5 games which included ICO, Klonoa 2, Gran Tursimo 3, Twisted Metal Black and Okage: The Shadow King. The ride home was a blur as I keep one envisaging awesomeness, and boy the PS2 did not disappoint.



As the years whizzed past by and more awesome game kept on coming, my time with the PS2 started becoming memorable. Spending long afternoons parked in front of the TV and playing games. My love of RPGs reached legendary status as the amount of RPGs on the system meant that I will always got my fix of the genre. The 3D platforming games were dime a dozens and action and racing games become the major forte for the PS2 games library. That equates unhealthy amount of time playing video games. Good ole days!

I will not state the number of amazing games I have experienced on the PS2 as that will take up most of the post space, but I will jot down 10 of my most favorite PS2 games:

1) Final Fantasy X
2) Metal Gear Solid 3
3) Final Fantasy XII
4) Persona 4
5) Final Fantasy X-2
6) Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
7) Jak 3
8) Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal
9) Shadow of the Colosuss
10) GTA: Vice City and Beyond Good and Evil

So there you have it, 10 years of providing awesome games to a massive number of gamers. And as the PlayStation brand rolls on in the HD generation with the PS3, we still fondly look back to the PS2. Cheers PS2, Thank you for the all games and memories!

The War Machine

My last update hinged around my stance against mindless war video games like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty. It also highlighted how video games can be used to flesh out the concept of war and its complexities and how games can be as powerful as movies. So around a year ago I wrote an article pertaining to the aforementioned topic for a web site but unfortunately that article never saw the light of day (some major technical problems occurred on the web site). So as I guess now is the perfect time to 'publish' that article. (The name of the web site has been blotted out)

“War! that mad game the world so loves to play.” ~Jonathan Swift

We live in a world that is rife with war, conflict and utter discord. Everywhere we look we have escalated conflicts and issues spinning outta hand, innocents lives being snuffed out while the world leaders are pulling the strings. War has been tackled in video games dealing from war against sentient beings or depicting the violent edge of the World Wars in form of action games with emphasis on action on the battlefield. As such we have seen some brilliantly paced games from the likes Call of Duty to the Medal of Honor franchises where the player is dropped right in the middle of the action and quick reflexes and the run and guns tactics being the player best friend. As much as these games are high in the playability, you always feel there is a distinct lack of a cohesive storyline, engaging characters or a message of some sort and this is where I think action war games have lacked. The genre which has packed up a bit of the slack is the RPG genre.

RPGs tend to tell an epic tale of a band of heroes who are out and about trying to stop the evil tyrant from destroying the world, but once ever few moons a game company chomps the bit and bring about an RPG which deals with the issues of war. They make huge rosters of characters, an epic scale of the situations and of course an army. A rag tag team of characters are replaced by a huge army focusing on one goal while the story makes every battle, every skirmish deep with repercussions and undeniable tension.

In following paragraphs we have jotted down names of a few RPGs which revolves around wars and poignant stories about the people and soldiers involved in war.

For us at (xxxxxxxxx) we have always been a fan of the Suikoden series for its decidedly different approach to games story and flow along with tried and test RPG mechanics. What started out as a niche game franchise has exploded among RPG elites for the new features the series adds: for starters Suikoden games incorporates 108 stars from the Chinese scribes of Shui Hu Zhuan, which in terms comes down to recruiting characters for a common cause. What separates Suikoden recruitment designs from other RPGs is the staggering number of character which can be bought down under one banner i.e. 108 stars. Sure not all of them are playable but quite a of few of them act as NPCs or having significance to the story. And as such Suikoden stories have a lot of political wrangling, allies, treaties, POW situations that ties in together with the major story theme and that in turn leads to the game having the "war atmosphere".



Another feature that lends to the war ‘factor’ in the Suikoden series are the full scale battles which take place at sporadic times in the game. These are usually pretty simple take on the SRPG genre and are quite easy but when taken as a whole these battles really add to the war situation and really drive the theme home. The impending doom sort of situations or the fighting for survival are the themes which make these battles quite impressive in scope. And if you add in the base camps, eclectic cast of character in the players burgeoning army you end up with a pretty impressive war themed franchise.

War is a pretty complex theme to showcase in an RPG as the game developers have to carefully tread themes which are usually quite lofty to discuss in any case. Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise often prides it selves on crafting impressive story lines, complex theme coupled with the supporting game play properties, but in the Final Fantasy cannon there have been two games which have directly presented a pretense and background of war. Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII have walked a path usually not reserved for a high end franchise (risk over bizness jargon), but as these games have ended up being really awesome, the risk was worthwhile. Final Fantasy Tactics was an ambitious game to start off with as this was a very different approach taken by the developers with its really strong narrative. The behind the scenes look at the politics, the ambiguity of allies and enemies, the deep background of history, a sordid and complex cast of characters and the epic main plot made Final Fantasy Tactics a stand out amongst its RPG peers and become a work of legend. Sure the level of depth found in the battle mechanics and job system coupled with its notoriously brutal difficulty and an awfully translated script has been talked about in full detail but it’s the game world’s history and the intellectual story that was the real standout.



In this regard Final Fantasy XII is an odd choice considering the character driven story but the whole atmosphere of war and invasion gave this iteration of the venerable series its distinct vibe. The world of Ivalice is steep in conflict and that hold true in Final Fantasy XII with the war between the mighty Arcadia and Rozarria and the small kingdom of Dalmasca. It’s this background that lays the ground work for the story which follows the exploits of a deposed princess. One of the basic theme of the story and the world of Ivalice was of alliance and that is how the main plot became much larger than the characters themselves. The epic nature of Final Fantasy XII politics and war really stood out on its own.

War themed RPG also has gotten a bit attention on the portable systems with notable entries of the Fire Emblem series on the GBA and DS or the remake of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP but one thing’s for sure, war on the go is a whole lotta fun. While one the subject there is one game series which technically isn’t an RPG but garners our attention due to the insane number of war mechanics in the game: The Advance War series. This military theme strategy series may not be a RPG but when dealing with so much detail in game play, one can only be impressed. The meat of the games are the battles which are filled with military terms and mechanics like Fog of War, troop placements, warring on different terrains or laying siege on a city or industrial compounds, it’s all there. The look of the game is really modern so expect to see units like submarines, APC, armored tanks, ground infantry or even fighter planes. This series showed how military themed games can easily be done a handheld, and if the game play is as addictive as Advance Wars, then you've got a killer combo.



If pointed out the aforementioned games have a few war angles but not the full war experience at it were, hence our last choice is Valkyria Chronicles. The game is the entire embodiment of the war machine with its reliance on an emotionally charged storyline rife with patriotic elements, back door politics and many fleshed out characters who have different reason to take up arms and of course military theme game play mechanics. This little gem was an easy choice for us as the amount love exhibited by Sega on this game is quite astounding. Let’s takes the story first: An fictional take on World War II; as the plot takes place on the continent of Europa where a massive war has broken out between the Imperial Alliance and the Atlantic Federation and caught in between is the small country of Galia. The story follows the exploits of not the army but of a local militia and it is this aspect which really is heart rending as the combatants mostly consists of regular people such as a baker, a bar maid, a farmer or a student. Some the exchanges of the main characters or how all the characters react differently to the conflict is quite inspiring as emotions are flying high and it all culminates into a moving narrative.



The war motif ventures much beyond the plot as the depth of the game play mechanics makes use of the said theme quite well. The players amass a large number of militiamen each having their own strengths and weakness, furthermore the solders are categorized into different of jobs ranging from infantrymen, elites foot soldiers to the snipers and engineers, hell the players even gets to use of a full size tank. There are terrain positions to think about, different strategy to partake in a given battle right down to requesting backup at the right time. Even during the non battle scenario there are recruitment centers to visit, training grounds for practice (i.e. used for leveling individual job category) and R&D facilities to go and perform upgrades on weapons and tanks.

Therefore Valkyria Chronicles become quite the odd beast as the whole game revolves around war: be it the story or the game mechanics. Personally Valkyria Chronicles has moved the RPG genre in the right as based on the game play but this game will linger in my mind for its plot, emotions and its characters. If Sega realizes the potential of this series it will surely give some of the big name RPG franchises a run for their money.



Tackling the issues of wars is a tough job at the best of times but some of the games mentioned in this rant do more than a commendable job in handling this sensitive matter. "War is Hell" as noted by the celebrated American Civil War hero William Sherman as it becomes a part of a nation psyche and party of a country difficult past. Most of the time RPGS tend to relies on a well worn track but if there are more bold developers who willing enough to explore the war business then most of us gamers will have a ball for sure.