My most anticipated RPGs of 2011: Day 6

The Last Story - Wii - TBA:

The name Hironobu Sakaguchi is synonymous with the brand Final Fantasy, as its creator Sakaguchi has been at the helm of some of the best games in the series, as well as being the executive producer/producer of countless others. His reputation was built on an unwavering stance of providing extremely polished games to the players and the will to bring something new to the plate. But when the failed movie venture, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within in 2000, came out to massive amounts of negative reviews, he voluntarily left SqaureEnix to make a new company named Mistwalker.

Since then the company has made a few solid if unspectacular RPGs for the Xbox 360 and the DS. But with the The Last Story the company is aiming for something substantial, but what is more important that Sakaguchi-san is the director of the game after a span of 19 years!. His last game as a director was Final Fantasy V for the SNES, so you can see The Last Story is quite an important game for the RPG genre. The Wii may have been an odd choice for a game for this caliber, but with the Japanese release early this year to some really good press it is a clear indication that the game and and console of choice was indeed inspiring.

The Last Story may very well be the last game from Sakaguchi and so the game seems to have pulled all stops and is set to give a great RPG experience. The game uses a variant of the turn based/ action RPG mechanics and twists it in a new direction. It is a huge departure from the turn based system which Sakaguchi specializes in and in the case of The Last Story this translates in huge expectation of RPG players on a whole.

While the setting of The Last Story is reminiscent of awesome games like Final Fantasy XII or Vagrant Story with strong medieval influences, but it still has stamp of a master who knows and loves his trade and it will be interesting to see if whole product is as polish as Sakaguchi older games. Oh yeah the game also sees Nobou Uematsu as the music composer which is always an awesome thing and we can expect the same high level of compositions Uematsu-san is know for.

The Last Story still awaits an official announcement for an English version but very recently there have been rumbling of an announcment soon, but till the E3 arrives its still all up in the air. The Last Story is very easily the last big game for the Wii and if it strikes gold then Wii will end up having one of the best RPGs in years. I really hope the game does get a English version and is as good as the hype!

My most anticipated RPGs of 2011

2011 so far has been a pretty good year for a number of genres like FPS or action adventure games and it would seem (from the release dates) that this trend will continue for the rest of the year as well. OK lets see now we have Gears of Wars 3 primed for release very soon, Infamous 2 June's debut is pretty close and Uncharted 3 is set for the fall release. But as much as this year has been awesome, there have been a woefully small number of quality RPGs coming out in 2011 and this fact is indicative of the new direction the current generation is taking. This is not say that 2011 has been or will be barren for RPGs, on contrary there are number of pretty solid RPGs coming out and although I am a few months late in bringing out this post (there have been around 3 good RPGs released in this time), but from today till the 2nd of June I will be discussing 10 of my most anticipated RPGs of this year (well...of 6 months that is):

1) Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii -September :

A simple and plan fact is that Wii has not been a power house for RPGs (even with the incredible popularity of the console), but unlike Nintendo's previous console (GameCube) there have been 3-5 solid RPGs for gamers to choose. But the console is still missing THAT epic RPG, which would define the console for RPG players. This is about to change though with the release of two RPGs from experienced developers. First I will talk about Xenoblade Chronicles. The game comes from the team which has made a HUGE name for themselves with the superlative Xenogears and XenoSaga series, helmed by Tetsuya Takahashi and the game company Monolith Soft, backed by Nintendo (phew). Now that is a quite a pedigree if you ask me, one which will catapult this game to a top billing for RPG players. The game was originally called Monado: Beginning of the World, but was thankfully changed to Xenoblade in honor of Takahashi (the creator of the Xeno brand games). Nintendo has a sure-fire winner on its hands and has done well in becoming the publisher, meaning the quality of the localization will be great. As a Wii owner I can't wait to get my grubby mitts on this one as soon as its out.

The premise of the plot takes place on top two crystallized gods where humanoids and machines have taken up residence and are now embroiled in a never ending war. From the outset the game already has a unique backdrop which will inevitable open up into something epic. Tetsuya Takahashi has also pointed out that the narrative will be quite different from the cut-scene heavy XenoSaga series (much to my chagrin), while also having emphasis on exploration. Consider this as an amalgam of eastern story-telling with western game play tropes. This will be very interesting indeed!

The game play resembles Final Fantasy XII (ala offline MMORPG), while players will have the freedom to input commands as well. I am one of those who actually really liked the MMORPG mechanics from Final Fantasy XII and after going through quite a few of game play video that mechanics looks very solid in Xenoblade Chronicles. I am very excited for the game play and with a promise of 50-60 hours of the main plot Xenoblade Chronicles has a lot going for it.


The technical aspect of the game looks really spiffy with some awesome visuals, perhaps one of the best looking Wii game to date! The screen shots and videos showcase huge environs to explores, beautiful vistas to behold and attention of a lot of detail. I mean lets face it, Wii isn't known for a its graphics, but Xenoblade Chronicles really does look good. For me the look of the game is very similar to many of the outstanding PS2 RPGs and I felt a twinge of nostalgia looking at screenshots and videos of the game.

But the soundtrack has all the bearing to be very memorable. Yoko Shimomura (of Kingdom Hearts and Legend of Mana fame) and Yasunori Mitsuda (of Chrono Trigger/Cross and XenoSaga fame) providing the sound track!!!. I mean two of the finest composers in the game industry working together can only mean that the sound track well be of dizzying quality.

So yeah it will be a huge understatement to say that I am excited for Xenoblade Chronicles. The game has that PS2 RPG vibe to it and that can only be a good thing (PS2 RPG library the greatest ever!). The Wii has been a huge success for Nintendo but the lack of good RPG has been disappointing, so here hoping that Xenoblade Chronicles lives up to the hype and finally give the Wii the epic RPG it deserves before it rides off into the sunset.

Join me tomorrow for another anticipated RPG.

Games of the Year Awards 2010 Day 8

Climbing on to number 3 on my Games if the Year Awards 2010 is the little legendary plumber.

3:

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii):

Super Mario Galaxy 2 maybe the only perfect platformer ever made. It just evolves everything found in the previous game and raises the bar for all future platformers, its really that good. Shigeru Miyamoto is called a genius for a reason and SMG 2 in my opinion his greatest creation.

The premise is the same: Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, Mario off to the rescue. The blueprints from the years gone past have remained the same but the game play mechanics have changed and the game designs have been made perfect as evident by this game. SMG 2 game play is very tight, I mean never was I frustrated while playing it with its controls or its streamlined approach and to be honest I was bemused at the level of creativity in each stage and area. The stuff added to the core game play makes sense esp the introduction of Yoshi in the mix. It seems to me that Nintendo told the game developers to go nuts and hence the end product is unbelievable.

Again what bothers me is how little importance this game was given by a large of the gaming fraternity. I mean SMG 2 was the most fun I had playing video games this year. Yes it doesn't have an epic story line, multi layered characters or even a hint of online play, but in terms of pure gaming bliss, SMG 2 was tops. The levels were plenty in number brimming with extraordinary creativity, variable objectives of the levels, the perfect balance of the difficulty (the game was pretty tough but also fair) while the presentation were just awesome with no hint of slowdown and colorful environments and the sound track once again was appropriately epic yet whimsical.

As you can see by now that I have used the word perfect a fews times, and this is how SMG 2..Perfect...Almost (why cant the story lines for the core Mario games be a little different..this is a definite little nitpick..but ah well).

Super Mario Galaxy 2 epitomizes every thing good and holy about Nintendo. SMG 2 and a bulk of other releases in 2010 made this year probably Wii's best in its cycle, and easily toppled the PS3 and the 360 of their pedestal of elite gaming machines. Nintendo also got back their disfranchised fans who were lost due to Nintendo's follies of the past. If the Wii does start to go down in the next year, then 2010 was its incredible swan-song.

Game of the Year Awards 2010 Day 3

The platformer genre was very well represented in 2010 and saw many big name franchise making a splash. At number 8 in my Game of the Year Awards 2010 is Donkey Kong Country Returns.

8:

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

I was a Sega fan as a kid and hence did not own a SNES which is why I never really knew about Donkey Kong Country series. The Wii did introduce me to the series through the Virtual Console service but I wasn't really impressed with Rare's popular franchise. But when Nintendo announced its barrage of games at this year E3 Donkey Kong Country Returns was the game which piqued my interest. Maybe the graphics were the real cause as basically the game design was identical as its SNES precursor (although the game development was done by Retro this time around rather than now Microsoft owned Rare), but whatever the case the game looked gorgeous. I was keen in knowing what the whole hoopla was about Donkey Kong Country popularity.

Fast forward to November and Donkey Kong Country Returns had knocked my socks off with its awesome graphics and spot on controls and inspired level design. Making leaps across canyons, dodging huge waves, transversing treacherous mines, battling awesome bosses was the quite rush and when you factor in the difficulty, it makes for some fine old school gaming. Yes the game is quite difficulty, sometimes so much so that I would almost fling my Wii controller across the room, but even then the difficulty is not frustrating as usually it would be my impetuousness which would lead to me wasting Kong's lives. The level designs are really well thought out with right amount of obstacles to overcome and finding secret areas. Each area of the game has a cool theme which makes for varied environments to look at and explore. And as I mentioned before the visuals are easily among the best on the Wii with staggering amount of attention laid on in the details and nary a hint of slowdown. Nintendo has brought out its A game and has delivered a stunning comeback from Donkey Kong and his cohorts.

You can always count on Nintendo to turn heads, and usually such events come about more often than other developers. It is as if people at Nintendo know exactly what gamers want and literally pulverize them with such knowledge and insight. Donkey Kong Country Returns is a fine example of such a fact as this game is easily one of the best 2D platformers I have played and is definitely one of the best games for the Wii. Period.

The perfect Galaxy...

Around two years ago I had the pleasure of playing a platform game that most probably had the greatest level designs ever seen in a 3D platformer. Miyamoto-san and his cohorts at Nintendo had brought their A game the party and delivered an incredible experience on the Wii with Super Mario Galaxy. Almost every level had amazing creativity, full of little touches which made me stop and be mesmerised and thought to myself that the level designs of Super Mario Galaxy cannot to be beat.



Lo and Behold in 2010 Miyamoto-san has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and brought us Super Mario Galaxy 2 and incredibly has level design which trumps the original. I shake my head in disbelieve as I write this statement: that the amount of creativity oozing from this game is staggering and miraculously the game manages to drawfs its predecessor. In the game industry its a common sight to see sequels of games upping the ante, but how do you react when a perfect game gets perfected in its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2 is that awesome!!!

I once wrote a review for original game where I mentioned that I never liked any of the 2D Mario games, but the Galaxy series has made me a fan of Mario (albeit not of the tradition 2D ones). The polish in every department of the game, the challenge of each and every level, some totally amazing set pieces of platforming and creative bosses makes everything about game sparkle. I will even go on and say that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the greatest 3D platformer even made. Don't worry I have played many awesome 3D platformers in my time; games like the Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank games, but this game kinda beats them by a country mile!

I heard a rumour some where that many of the levels present in the game were actual rejects from the previous game. If this is true then one can only wonder what sort of talent presides in the development arm of Nintendo. Take the following as an example; by just adding the cute dinosaur Yoshi, the game design opened up in awesome new ways which makes his levels quite a treat. Another addition was the streamline nature of Mario progress. Gone are the hub world of previous 3D Mario games, and replaced by the typical level selection menu: old school style. Sure many of the basic themes of levels have made it on the to Galaxy 2 from the original, but some how they have been made more intricate and complex, yet still retaining the typical Nintendo charm. Its stuff like that which made me take notice of the game and also made me think about the awesome development which made this game. Kudos to them!

Last week was a Mario rush for me as Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the only game I was playing, so much so that I even had dreams of the game for crying out loud!. The sad part is playing the game made me think of how less attention the 3D platformer genre gets nowadays as Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the very rare platform game in the HD generation

The only complaint that I have against Galaxy 2 is the abject storyline, to be precise the typical cannon fodder that has been seen time and again in previous Mario games. To many gamers this isn't much of a complaint as this is what we expect from a Mario game, but if you take a look at the Mario RPG games then you being to wonder why don't the main Mario games have such charming story lines. Take any iterations of the Paper Mario series of the Mario and Luigi series. These games have funny and genuinely charming storyline and also dispel the the notion that Mario games cannot have a proper plot. If only the plots of next Galaxy games are given attention then you will have the most perfect platform game.



So Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best Wii game to date. There are no if and buts from me as the amount of fun I had playing this game was immense. I now eagerly anticipate the next inevitable Mario game and can't wait for what Shigeru Miyamoto has in store for us.

The Big N owned!!!

Just finished watching Nintendo's press conference for the E3 and I have to say I was duly impressed. This year it seem that the Big N have gone the whole 9 yards in reigning in the hardcore gamer with a dazzling array of game titles announcements and game reveals. The last two E3 Nintendo has come in for a lot of flak by the game industry due to their over-reliance on catering to the casual gamers market so much so that they have some what forgotten about the legion of Nintendo fans who have grown up playing truly fantastic games. But this year? Boy have they gone to town. I was truly amazed how they have put in all of their big first party franchises and come out all guns blazing. I am guessing Sony and Microsoft may not have seen this coming. Anyways coming on the game now.

First off its the legend: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and after months of speculation Miyamoto-san have unveiled the exclusive Zelda game for the Wii. What impressed me the most right off the bat were the cartoony visuals. I mean to be honest I was blown away by Wind Waker's cel shaded looks so the cartoony look of the new Zelda feel right at home for me. Th colour saturated environs in the demo looked like they were pushing the Wii hardware to the limits. But when the initial euphoria died down I felt a little disappointment due to the nature of game play. Its FULL OF WAGGLE!!!. As a muscular dystrophy patient having to deal to THAT much arm waving and waggle is looking a little tiresome. The bevvy of movement were quite elaborate and it while it look quite fun to play alright, I need to think of it practically. Anyways here's to hoping that there some option of either toning down the waggle or the option of using the Classic Controller Pro.



Then there was Warren Specter. I have heard LOADS of Deus Ex and System Shock world and setting but never got to play them so the twisted nature of Warren Specter's new game Epic Mickey was the one to truly shine. Paying homage to Mickey's 80 year history with a twisted world of the Wasteland, meeting up with many of the Disney characters which have been cast aside, hence creating a disturbing atmosphere. What has got my interest piqued are the different game play styles involving RPG elements, platforming and adventure and is looking to provide loads of depth with its 'paint it or erase it' game mechanics. The graphics too looked quite dazzling esp for a Wii game. Since this game was unveiled a year ago I have kept tabs on it and am intrigued how the end product will play out. But I am sure this game will surprise ALOT of Wii naysayers and haters.


OK so Kirby may be the most cutest characters around in the world of gaming, and although I have never played a Kirby game before, Kirby's Epic Yarn looks right down my alley with its unique visuals. Since the conception of LittleBigPlanet's different visual art style no game have been able to replicate it till now as Kirby's Epic Yarn looks quite wonderfully weird with its yarn based looks and how it translates into the game play as well. Its is if the whole game is made from a piece cloth and also retains its 2D platform tradition. Even as a gamer who is into mature games, I just help get sucked in the cutesy world of Kirby.

The last two games which caught me eye at the Nintendo's press conference are Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and the grand reentry of Donkey Kong Country. Golden Sun: Dark Sun once again targets the RPG gamers this time obviously on the DS and it sure looks quite good. The puzzle based game play returns along with turn based battle system makes its a JRPG I will be looking forward too. Donkey Kong Country Returns comes back to consoles after a long hiatus and this game also looks like it will turn a lot of heads and to be honest I am very pumped for this co-op platform.

So yeah this year Nintendo has totally owned Sony and Microsoft hands down. Sure the big games and the new hardware were on show at the press conferences to those two but the amount of fun games at Nintendo press conference is staggering and too think most of those games are coming this year. I CANNOT wait!!!