C.Jin's All-Time Favorite Games: Part II

I'm about to dig into ancient history here, but back in the day (a Tuesday), I made a post about my all-time favorite games. I was supposed to follow it up immediately with a part II, but I was like meh so I didn't. So, here we are, 5 years later. Here is part two of the list of my all-time favorite games.

I covered some of the more common and mainstream games in my first list, so I actually have a couple of less popular gems prepared for this one. What most of these games have in common is that I spent hundreds, and I mean hundreds of hours playing them. The gameplay absorbed me so deeply in the experience that at times, I found myself just standing around in the game's world so it wouldn't have to end. And that's what gaming is all about, right? Having fun? ...Right guys?

Wii U; Super Mario 3D World

I'll admit; I haven't had a Nintendo home console in my possession since the Super Nintendo. I mostly grew up a Sony guy, and I still rely on the Playstation brand to bring me my gaming. That's why whenever people my age reminisce about how great the N64 and Gamecube were, I feel completely out of touch. It's not that I didn't like Nintendo; I just didn't grow up with it.

So I figured, "there's gotta be a reason why people love Nintendo so much." I mean, I do have a DS and 3DS, and the games on those handhelds are fantastic. So with the help of a little influence from a friend, I went out on a limb and bought a Wii U. I was aware of the limited game library at the moment, but I couldn't help but get drawn in by the quality of Nintendo's polish in 1080p.

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented [Now Playing]

I have a weird relationship with horror games. I really like horror theming and scary stories in general, but I'm also a candy-ass when it comes to actually playing horror games. Every playthrough is like a battle between my appreciation of the expertly crafted atmosphere and the shriveling that's occurring in my balls. In the end though, I do love playing them.

A particular favorite of mine is Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. This is a game I played a very long time ago, when I was in high school. At the time, I was merely trying to be done with it (because I was terrified) so I figured I'd give it a serious playthrough now that I've grown a few more chest hairs.

Top 10 Final Fantasy Girls

There's really no end to the amount of Final Fantasy top ten lists I can make, is there? This time, I'll be honoring the women of Final Fantasy and counting down the best female characters of all time. Now, before we start, I've got to make one thing clear: this is not a list based on appearances. I'm not making a ridiculous "sexiest girls in gaming" list.

Character design does factor into the placements, but the main thing I'll be looking into is their actual character. Are they well-written female personas? Are they appealing and likable in terms of personality? These are the questions I'll be asking as we run down the list. And of course, this is a list of my top 10 Final Fantasy girls, so if you have a different opinion, just share it in the comments below!

Now then, number ten...

Sony Trinitron KV-27FV310

A Link to the Past, muthafackas

When I first started my gaming collection a few months back, I had to hook up my SNES to an HDTV. Needless to say, I had a bad time. It looked plain awful. So I went on the web and did some searching, and found out that the best way to play retro games is through a CRT TV. But not just any CRT will cut it. Apparently, the best CRT's were made by Sony and Mitsubishi, with Sony's "Trinitron" product line being much more common. Thus, I made it my mission to find the perfect Sony Trinitron TV.

Top 10 SNES Games of All Time

The Super Nintendo, or SNES, is my favorite video game console of all time. It's home to such an expansive library of incredible, timeless games that I wouldn't even hesitate to call it the greatest video game console. I think part of what makes it so great is its place in time. It was the pinnacle of sprite-based, 2D gaming. While the following generation had sprite-based games as well, they were too busy experimenting with primitive 3D graphics to give the kind of sophisticated polish the SNES gave to all its games.

This is going to be difficult, as there are so many great games, but I'm going to try my best to list the top ten SNES games of all time. The games I chose were at the top of their genres when they came out, and are still worthy of picking up and playing to this very day. As usual, note that these are just my opinions, so if you want to share your own top ten list, go ahead and let me know in the comments!

Super Nintendo [Game Collection]

So, what have I been doing these past few months? Well, my interest in Gundam has been waning for awhile now, but my interest in video game collecting has been growing exponentially. I'm out of college with a disposable income, so I've been dedicating a whole lot of my money to building a respectable collection of games, from retro to new.

You see, I don't just play games for fun. I look at them and appreciate them as one would appreciate novels as literature. I play each and every one of them for the unique experiences they provide. Consequently, I'm not just collecting games because I can or because I'm bored. I want to have and experience every game there is in order to absorb all of gaming history. That way, I can truly say that I'm passionate about this silly little hobby of mine.

I started my collecting journey with the first console I ever owned: the Super Nintendo (or SNES). This is the console that introduced me to video games. I pretty much consider it the best video game console of all time because of its amazing 16-bit game library that holds up amazingly well to this day. The number of classic games that are still considered great; there's just no end to them.

My original console died on me during my childhood, so I've been separated from a physical SNES for over a decade. Imagine my excitement when I finally got a hold of a new one. It's in pretty great condition, and the price wasn't too bad. I immediately bought some of my favorite games as well, including a few new ones I never got to play as a child.

Final Fantasy III (which is actually VI) is the crown jewel of my current collection. I've stated a long time ago that it's the best Final Fantasy in the series, but I'm still in awe at how they managed to produce such a masterpiece with such primitive hardware. It was pretty great getting to replay the game on a real SNES.

I managed to get a few other 16-bit masterpieces, like Diddy's Kong Quest, Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario World. It'll probably take a lot more time (and money) to get the rest of the Super Nintendo library, but the day will definitely come when I'll be forced to clear more space on my bookcase.

It's a tiny collection (for now). I just love how these things feel in my hand

Fire Emblem: Awakening [Now Playing]

It's been a long time coming, but I finally got myself a 3DS. Now, to be honest, I actually thought very poorly of the 3DS when it was struggling during its launch. But as the years went by, the library of games started stacking up and I found that all of the games I was interested in were on the 3DS. As soon as I got money coming in, I confident enough to buy the device and a handful of games immediately.

My first game? Fire Emblem: Awakening. I was intrigued by the enormous amount of praise it was getting, so I bought into the hype and let this be my introduction to the 3DS. I've actually never played a Fire Emblem game before this, but I'm a huge fan of strategy RPG's so I knew I would click with the series immediately. Now, I recently completed the game...

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen [Now Playing]

I've been home doing nothing for the past few weeks, so out of an intense need to keep myself busy, I decided to look for an addictive RPG to play. My choices ranged from Skyrim to Dark Souls, but for whatever reason, I ended up buying Dragon's Dogma. I ignored the original release, so Dark Arisen (the expansion) ended up being my first taste of the game.

I've played through the game once already, and I've got to say, I really like this game. I'm close to platinuming it, and I wasn't even trying to. I was just having fun trying out different things and completing all of the quests. I think the main thing I love about this game is its replay value. You're able to replay the game via New Game Plus an infinite number of times, so you're able to enjoy the game exactly how you want to each time whilst retaining your level and all of your gear.

The boss battles are also amazing. I'd say they're the best in any game of this genre. Like many people have said, it's like a cross between Dark Souls and Shadow of the Colossus. The way you climb up on giant monsters while epic music is playing is just exhilarating, to say the least.

A lot of people disregard this game as being "not quite as good as Skyrim", but I'd rather avoid comparisons like that. Dragon's Dogma has its own list of merits and charms, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a love for fantasy rpg's (and a lot of time).

Songs of Final Fantasy: Top 10 Battle Themes

Here's a shocker: I'm a huge fan of Final Fantasy. I absolutely love the series, and I've been a fan since Clinton was in office. I've played every title in the series several times, and the one thing that always sticks with me is the music. The various themes in each game come to define that particular game. Most of it is owed to the mastery of musical genius Nobuo Uematsu, but other composers have produced some memorable themes as well.

In this top ten list, I'm going to be ranking the best battle themes in the Final Fantasy series. Battle themes are usually the most memorable and definitive songs in the games, along with the overworld themes. Therefore, I think it's only proper to do them some justice. I'll be including all of the main series titles and all related spin-offs. As usual, these are just my opinions so feel free to disagree and share your own thoughts in the comments. Now then...

Not Impressed With Next-Gen Graphics

Yeah I said it. I'm completely unimpressed with the "next generation" of gaming graphics. I thought I was the only one who thought this, but comments from the gaming community have assured me otherwise. Perhaps it's too early to say, but the PS4 and Xbox One are getting ready for launch. Here's a trailer of some of the upcoming titles...

Pretty damn impressive, right? But honestly, is this the next-generation?  To put it as nicely as I can, it's just a tad bit better than the current gen. Maybe we're just used to the enormous leaps that have occurred in previous generations. I mean, we went from this...

to this...

And then from this...

 to this..

Perhaps we've hit a plateau? I think perhaps we're not quite ready to take that enormous leap. It's merely due to the rules of marketing that Sony/Microsoft had to release new hardware to compete with after so many years. It's hard to argue with that, but there's a part of me that thinks maybe we can wait a few more years. 

I think the main reason so many of us are unimpressed is that it's hard for us to detect the minute improvements with our lousy human eyes. The difference between 8-bit and 64-bit is obvious, but what about super high polygon HD graphics and super-super high polygon HD graphics with better lighting effects? Yeah, it's getting a little less obvious. 

To be fair, the trailer just shows a bunch of development footage and pre-rendered scenes. Just like with the current gen, the graphics will improve once developers get a hang of the new hardware. But for now, all I can say is that I'm underwhelmed. What do you guys think? 

To the Moon [Indie Game]

You probably know "To the Moon" as the game that makes people cry. I found out about it from various gaming sites because its story is constantly praised for its originality and its ability to tug your heart strings. I dismissed it for quite awhile, but I finally decided to give it a try yesterday. And...

Yeah, I totally teared up. Cried like a bitch. I'm usually prone to emotional things, but this game was especially sad. Sometimes it felt like the game tried too hard to make us cry, but I appreciated how interesting and dramatic the story was. It is definitely original, and filled with shocking twists.

The game is kind of tedious to play, however. At times it felt like the game wasn't even necessary; all you really end up doing is move from one point to another. You solve the occasional puzzle, but most of your time will be spent watching the story unfold. While I didn't mind this, it was definitely a bit of a drag at times.

The graphics are typical of RPG Maker 16-bit games, so don't expect much. The music is excellent, however. It's one of the highlights of "To the Moon"; there's even a vocal song made just for this game. If you're into excellent, emotional stories, then you should definitely give this game a try. It's only a 4 hour game, and you'll be coasting along the way. Just don't expect anything more than that, and be prepared to shed some manly tears.

5 Unsolved Mysteries in FFVII

I'm going to turn this into a series of posts, considering how much I like to write about Final Fantasy. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have played Final Fantasy VII dozens of times and still play through it every now and then. I'll probably be making more of these so stay in touch. Anyway...

Every popular game has its share of urban legends and myths; just look at the GTA series. You wouldn't expect a story-driven RPG to have a bunch of random mysteries, but Final Fantasy VII is actually filled with them. These mysteries have existed for years, and despite the theories and rumors being all over the place, nobody has been able to agree on a conclusive answer for any of them. Here are 5 of my favorite mysteries in FFVII. After describing them, I'll give you my 'probable explanation' as a way to try and debunk the myth in a way. Feel free to give your own theories as well!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Demo

I just finished playing the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo. My initial impressions? Honestly, I'm very disappointed and bit worried about how good this game will be when it comes out. Most people won't be very quick to write a game off because of its demo, but I think its issues stem from the overall design, not menial things like lag or glitching.

I first thing I noticed from the moment I moved Raiden was that it feels very old-school, and that's not in a good way. The movement feels clunky and limited, like a PS2-era Capcom game (Devil May Cry). I expect more fluidity from a game coming out at the end of a console generation. Jumping up obstacles was a complete mess, and this was further hindered by a frustrating camera. None of the controls seemed to work like the designers imagined.

Thankfully, I got excited by this game for the flashy Platinum Games-style combat. Unfortunately, its a bit lackluster and hack-n-slash. Normally, I love hack-n-slash games and I feel that it can be very exhilarating when done right (DmC). In the demo, the combat was easy and one-dimensional. Any semblance of a challenge was overshadowed by an over-emphasis on flashiness. I'm not distracted by flashy visuals anymore, I want gameplay.

There wasn't too much to set this game apart from any third-party action game. Blade mode is interesting, but I found that it was just frustrating and put a dead stop to the combat. The demo didn't do a very good job of showing us why this mode is interesting, or even necessary.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking that if the gameplay failed, I would look forward to the legendary story-telling of Kojima and the Metal Gear series. To my utter disappointment, that was nowhere to be found either. Again, everything felt third-rate and lackluster. Raiden's one-liners were cringe-worthy, and the overall presentation was cheesy at best. I feel that there isn't much for Metal Gear fans to be excited about.

Hopefully, the final product will be a little better. The thing is, most of its issues are things that are basically set in stone. None of the criticisms that I mentioned will be addressed to a great degree. Don't let my ranting bring you down though, try the demo out and tell me what you think about it.

5 Most Tedious Moments in FFVII

I'm not ashamed to say that Final Fantasy VII is one of my all time favorite games. It's the only game I've played through more than 20 times, and one of the only games I've done a complete 100% run-through of. I go back and play this game pretty often, and while I thoroughly enjoy every experience, there are a few small moments I dread playing through.

This is my list of the 5 most tedious moments in FFVII. Note that these moments aren't necessarily bad for the game; some people might downright enjoy them. I'm just trying to point out some sections of the game that I grew to dread after playing through the game a hundred times.

Have Games Become Too Easy?

This is apparently a much-talked about issue, but I actually just realized that. I really thought I was the only one that was feeling this, and I wasn't even sure of it until I saw that other people had the same opinions. The question is this, are modern games too easy? Has the difficulty been toned down too much? Are developers too liberal with constant auto-saves? In a way, this is true. Games have definitely been made more accessible because it appeals to a much broader audience than before.

This isn't to say that all new games are just cake-walks. It's just that most serious gamers today grew up with games from the late '80's and '90's. Back then, almost every game was freaking torture. Remember the original Ninja Gaiden? Or the Contra series? Pretty much every classic platformer had it's ridiculous frustrations. Blind turns and pit-falls, limited lives, and you had to start over from the beginning if you died. There were no auto-save points. Remember how everyone made a fuss about how hard Devil May Cry 3 was? It was mainly because there were no save points. But if you stop and think...that's how EVERY game was in the 8-bit and 16-bit era.

One important point that I have to mention is that this isn't necessarily a bad thing either. A lot of people don't like it, but it's not an obvious flaw in the industry. In fact, the "easiness" is just a result of video games improving. Making tons of progress then having to restart is frustrating, so automatic save points take all of that frustration out. "Impossible" levels from the classic era were really just levels with design flaws, riddled with things like pin-point accurate jumps and totally blind turns. The same goes for boss fights. Basically, they're not technically making games "easier". They're more...fixing game design.

But anyway, I do agree that games have definitely changed in terms of general difficulty. Back when I was playing on my Super NES, every game required you to master all the gameplay mechanics and memorize every part of a level if you wanted to beat it. There was plenty of trial and error, but by the end of it, you felt incredibly satisfied. It was a long, hard fought battle. And that's precisely what modern games are missing. That sense of satisfaction. I don't remember the last time I played a game through, and really felt satisfied at the end. Every game has just been "do this, auto-save, do that, auto-save, quick-time event, auto-save". The game holds your hand for so long that by the end of this smooth ride, you think "huh? It's over?"

To name of few great games that were really just cake-walks: Assassin's Creed series, God of War 3, Vanquish, inFamous, Uncharted series. If you've noticed, these are some of the most highly rated games of this generation. That says a lot. And again, they're not bad games. Just...maybe not so challenging by the end of the day. But there's another issue here. Normal is basically easy mode now, but when you switch it to hard, it's suddenly completed unbalanced and ridiculous. I thought God of War 3 was easy, so it switched to Hard mode. My god, I was dying in 3 hits. What's with this imbalance?

What do y'all think? Are games too easy these days? If so, is it a bad thing?

Duodecim 012 Addiction

Sigh~ I really love this blog, even if it doesn't serve much of a purpose in my life and even if its not booming with comments or content. I just wish I had more time to work on it. As soon as school starts, you can pretty much forget about posts. Though, I'd like to report that...

I've been playing Dissidia 012 Duodecim, and its damn ADDICTIVE. I got this game a loong time ago, but for some reason I just never got around to playing it. Well, I randomly decided to start it up, and suddenly I found myself glued to my PSP for entire days, just playing this damn game.

It's not just the awesome, fast-paced action or the super fan-service selection of characters. Duodecim maintains that RPG element from Final Fantasy, so there's a lot of leveling up, mastering a HUGE list of battle skills, and farming for items so you can craft the best equipment. I literally spent hours just trying to get the rare components you need to get each character's ultimate weapon.

There's so much to spend your time on, and the story mode is long as hell too. I've pretty much decked out Tifa, Yuna, Lightning, and Cloud with mastered everything at Lv.100. That's how much I've been playing. It has much more content than the first game, and the new characters are great, so just pick up and play this game. If you're a Final Fantasy fan, it would be a crime not to play it.

[PS3] All Future Online will Require PSN Pass

Sony recently confirmed that Uncharted 3 will require an online pass for multiplayer, and now it seems that this will be the case for ALL future releases with online play. Basically, games with online multiplayer with come with PSN codes, kind of like CD-keys for PC games. Read the source article here: http://www.gamesradar.com/sony-confirms-all-future-online-games-will-utilize-psn-passes/

I'm not really sure how I should feel about this. I mean, in general, it sucks. We're going to have to type in 12 digit codes every time we get a new game, but we'll only have to do it once so it's really no big deal. However, it's going to be near impossible to lend people games and expect them to enjoy online. Also, if you buy the game used, you'll have to pay a small fee to get a new code.

It is a bit of a let-down, but then again, I rarely ever play online multiplayer, and I always get my games new, so it won't bother me as much. The gaming community is obviously riled up, but that's to be expected when something changes I guess. The point of this is to encourage people to buy games new, but honestly, if games weren't so bloody expensive more people would be buying them new. I don't ever buy used games, but I rarely buy them when they just come out either. I mean come on, $60 for a 12 hour experience? I've spent less money on dinner and a movie.

Square Enix Wants to Redo FFXIV...

As most of the gaming community already knows, Final Fantasy XIV was pretty much one of the biggest flops in recent years. It was almost as if the game were only 20 percent done, but they decided to just throw it out into the public anyway. I mean, it only as a score of 49 on metacritic. For a Final Fantasy game, or any game for that matter, that's just depressingly awful. But it seems Square Enix is still trying to make it work, even after doing as much as they can do.

Here's the juicy part. Square Enix's CEO, Yoichi Wada, recently stated that FFXIV's studio is willing to start again from scratch, fully re-doing the game. You can read some more about that here: http://www.gamesradar.com/square-enix-determined-redo-ffxiv-defends-dragon-quest-x/

I understand that the game was piss-poor, but those are some drastic measures. I guess its mostly a big deal because the Final Fantasy brand is so well-established and respected around the world, and each of its games has brought in critical acclaim and millions of dollars. For a flagship title to do so poorly is certainly very embarrassing and damaging to their name. But I'm gonna have to support their decision on this one. There's nothing more they can do for FFXIV in its current state; the best course of action is definitely to start an entirely new game.

Anyway, the real point I wanted to make is, I feel like this could have been less of a disaster if the online games were NOT a part of the main series! I feel like they could have easily made it into a sub-series and called it Final Fantasy Online. Even Final Fantasy XI was only half-decent and I really feel like it doesn't belong with the other flagship titles, considering it is an MMORPG. It really breaks the flow of Square's line of amazing RPG's. Now look what they did with FFXIV, it tanked and hurt the brand even more. Remember Dirge of Cerberus? That got lukewarm reviews, but it wasn't a big deal because it was just a spin-off title.  All they need to do is keep these MMO's out of the main series. Quit taking up precious space that belongs to our beloved Final Fantasy games, ok?

3D Gaming is...just annoying?

A recent study showed that nearly 30 percent of players thought that the 3D feature on the 3DS actually detracted from the gaming experience. You can read more about the study here: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/24/3d-gamings-approval-rating-low-blamed-on-inherited-wars-and-ec/

I've always hated this sudden 3D trend, but I hadn't realized that a good percentage of people actually thought the 3D feature on the 3DS is just distracting and unnecessary. I mean, the whole "3D without glasses" thing was  the selling point of the 3DS. However! I've feared from the beginning that people would just be ignoring the 3D, turning it off completely while playing games.

Developers keep ignoring the fact that people just want to play GAMES. They want to sit back, relax during their free time, hold a controller, and look at a normal television screen. This obsession with new trends has gone far enough. Motion controls are an unnecessary trend that should be dying very soon too, but that's another story. 3D, however, is just silly. Why is it that a stupidly simplistic technology that we've had around for DECADES is suddenly becoming the biggest thing in media? We don't need 3D for movies, and we certainly don't need it for video games. Moving around to play games is stupid enough, I don't need eye-strain to go with it.

Times are tough for the 3DS. It was selling poorly to begin with, but now its entire concept is meaningless. Nintendo needs to get with the times, and fast.